Classic Poem

1

T HERE'S a voice that I have heard
Along the Way of Life,
A voice that soundeth only
When my soul is worn with strife,
When I fall in utter weakness
On the stony, endless steep,
Someone comes and whispers to me
" Sleep, child, sleep! "

2

'Tis the Mother of us all
That crooneth to me then,
Soothing me with visions
And dreams beyond my ken,
With a song I do not understand,
Whose words I cannot keep,
Only the burden of her song —
" Sleep, child, sleep! "

3

O Mother — holy Mother!
O Mother of my soul!
Should day departing leave me
Afar off from my goal,
Let me fall as a weakling back
To thy bosom, dim and deep!
And o'er my failure whisper only
" Sleep, child — sleep! "