New Zealand Verse/Slumber Song
CX.
Slumber Song.
Now the golden day is ending,
See the quiet night descending,
Stealing, stealing all the colours, all the roses from the west.
Safe at home each bird is keeping
Watch o’er nest and children sleeping,
Dreaming tender dreams of sunshine, sleeping warm, for sleep is best.
Sleep then, sleep, my little daughter,
Sleep to sound of running water,
Singing, singing through the twilight, singing little things to rest.
Down beside the river flowing,
Where the broom and flax are growing,
Little breezes whisper gently, as night’s music softly swells;
And like bells of Elfin pealing,
Lonely through the shadows stealing,
Tinkling, tinkling through the twilight comes the sound of cattle bells.
Sleep, then, sleep, my little daughter,
Cattle bells, and wind, and water,
Weaving, weaving chains of slumber, cast about thee Dreamland’s spells.
See the quiet night descending,
Stealing, stealing all the colours, all the roses from the west.
Safe at home each bird is keeping
Watch o’er nest and children sleeping,
Dreaming tender dreams of sunshine, sleeping warm, for sleep is best.
Sleep then, sleep, my little daughter,
Sleep to sound of running water,
Singing, singing through the twilight, singing little things to rest.
Down beside the river flowing,
Where the broom and flax are growing,
Little breezes whisper gently, as night’s music softly swells;
And like bells of Elfin pealing,
Lonely through the shadows stealing,
Tinkling, tinkling through the twilight comes the sound of cattle bells.
Sleep, then, sleep, my little daughter,
Cattle bells, and wind, and water,
Weaving, weaving chains of slumber, cast about thee Dreamland’s spells.
Mary H. Poynter.