A Blessing For The Blessed

: SLEEPY-TIME SONGS AND STORIES
: Boys And Girls Bookshelf

BY LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA



When the sun has left the hilltop,

And the daisy-fringe is furled,

When the birds from wood and meadow

In their hidden nests are curled,

Then I think of all the babies

That are sleeping in the world.



There are babies in the high lands

And babies in the low,

There are pale ones wrapped in furry skins

On the margin of the snow,

And brown ones naked in the isles

Where all the spices grow.



And some are in the palace,

On a white and downy bed;

And some are in the garret,

With a clout beneath their head;

And some are on the cold, hard earth,

Whose mothers have no bread.



O little men and women,

Dear flowers yet unblown--

O little kings and beggars

Of the pageant yet unshown--

Sleep soft and dream pale dreams now,

To-morrow is your own.