A Sleep-Prayer for My Daughter*
©September 30th,2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Blue descending, silken-deep
Like midnight promising her sleep
Darkness, spilling sweet moonlight,
Ease her mind with gentle night.
Let her sleep, and let her dream
Let her visions palely gleam
In quiet streams, in forest glades
In hollows where no one has strayed
Hold her sweetly in your arms,
Oh Sleep and Night, and bring no harm.
Let her smile in sleep, and think
No thoughts of death. And let her drink
From wells of fun, of play and song
Show her where she might belong.
Then, float her boat of happiness
On moonlit streams with no distress
That brook of dreams where she
Will sing, and read, and quietly be.
For childhood’s full of dreams and fears
Give her strength and spare her tears.
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