I received this email today…

I am desperately searching for any words to any short Irish lullaby. A friend of my is pregnant and I want to put the lullaby on fabric for her as a baby shower present. Thank you so much for your time.

I asked my colleague, Monique, in France, if she had any suggestions. She wrote:

Perhaps she can write just one verse of one of these lullabies below…

Too ra loo ra loo or…
The Connemara Cradle Song or…

Irish Lullaby

I’d rock my own sweet childie to rest
In a cradle of gold, on a bough of the willow,
To the sho-hen sho of the wind of the west
And the lull-a-lo of the soft sea billow.
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother is here beside your pillow.
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother is here beside your pillow.

I’d put my own sweet childie to sleep
In a silver boat on the beautiful river,
Where a sho-heen whisper the white cascades,
And a lull-a-lo the green flags shiver.
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother is here with you for ever.
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother is here with you for ever.

Lull-a-lo to the rise and fall
Of mother’s bosom ’tis sleep has bound you,
And O, my child, what cosier nest for rosier rest
could love have found you?
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother’s two arms are clasped around you.
Sleep, baby dear,
Sleep without fear,
Mother’s two arms are clasped around you.

If anyone can suggest any other Irish lullabies, pease let us know in the comments below.

Many thanks to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for her suggestions!

-Lisa