Sleepsong

Haworth Hodgkinson

Rock my cradle, mummy,
gently forth and steady.
Rock my cradle, all night long
until you fall all sleepy.

The daddies are out in the fields, mummy
ploughing by searchlight beams.
Look at the moons on the tractors, mummy!
Can you tell which is the sky moon?

Watch my face, mummy,
my eyes, and the curve of my nose.
Can you tell which of the daddies
I look like, mummy? Can you?

Rock my cradle, all night long,
until sunrise, when you drowse,
and I will crawl from cradle to field
and dig in the freshly cut earth.

Look, mummy, I'm picking worms
with the crows and the seagulls!
Can you tell which stabbing beak
is your baby's, mummy? Can you?

Rock my empty cradle, mummy,
gently forth and steady.
Rock my cradle, while you sleep,
and I'm so far away, mummy,
so far, so far away.

Written 2008

Published in Tractor Bastard, 2012
(Malfranteaux Concepts)