"Cradle-Song of the Fisherman's Wife"

Cradle-Song of the Fisherman's Wife

Swung in the hollows of the deep, 

While silver stars their watches keep, 

Sleep, my seabird, sleep! 

Our boat the glistening fishes fill, 

Our prow turns homeward―hush, be still, 

Sleep, my seabird, sleep― 

Sleep, sleep. 

The wind is springing from out the West, 

Nestle thee deeper in mother’s breast, 

Rest, my seabird, rest! 

There is no sea our boat could whelm 

While thy brave father is at the helm, 

Rest, my seabird, rest― 

Rest, rest. 

The foam flies past us like beaten cream, 

The waves break over, the fierce winds scream, 

Dream, my seabird, dream! 

Dream of the cot where high and low, 

Crimson and white, the roses blow, 

Dream, my seabird, dream― 

Dream, dream. 

What tho’ the tempest is on the deep? 

Heaven will guard thee―do not weep, 

Sleep, my seabird, sleep! 

Be brave as a fisherman’s child should be, 

Rocked in the hollows of the sea, 

Sleep, my seabird, sleep― 

Sleep, sleep. 

"Cradle-Song of the Fisherman's Wife" as it appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

This poem was set to music by two composers, Cora Chamberlin Perkins (dates unavailable) of Seattle, WA in 1900 and Charles Sanford Skilton (1868-1941) of Kansas.