Eugene Field (1850 – 1895) is a beloved American children’s poet. Here’s a sweet poem he wrote to help put children to sleep at night. You can read the text and listen to a recording of the poem in the YouTube video below…
The Rock-A-By Lady
By Eugene Field
The Rock-a-By Lady from Hushaby street
Comes stealing; comes creeping;
The poppies they hang from her head to her feet,
And each hath a dream that is tiny and fleet –
She bringeth her poppies to you, my sweet,
When she findeth you sleeping!
There is one little dream of a beautiful drum –
“Rub-a-dub!” it goeth;
There is one little dream of a big sugar-plum,
And lo! thick and fast the other dreams come
Of popguns that bang, and tin tops that hum,
And a trumpet that bloweth!
And dollies peep out of those wee little dreams
With laughter and singing;
And boats go a-floating on silvery streams,
And the stars peek-a-boo with their own misty gleams,
And up, up, and up, where the Mother Moon beams,
The fairies go winging!
Would you dream all these dreams that are tiny and fleet?
They’ll come to you sleeping;
So shut the two eyes that are weary, my sweet,
For the Rock-a-By Lady from Hushaby street,
With poppies that hang from her head to her feet,
Comes stealing; comes creeping.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2018 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, English, Eugene Field, Languages, Mama Lisa, Poetry, Poets, The Rock-a-by Lady, USA, YouTube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
One Response to “The Rock-a-By Lady – A Poem by Eugene Field”
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October 26th, 2022 at 8:25 pm
Our mother used to sing this to us, and I didn’t know “poppies” – thought she was saying “puppies,” which I knew. I thought that odd, imagining a lei, if you will, of puppies. We had a dog, so I thought my interpretation quite satisfactory; don’t remember telling my parents or older siblings of my understanding. :)