Lullaby to the Moon

A whispering sound we recognized,

In lyrics known in children’s ears,

And seen but only by their eyes,

Beginning with the verse of one,

We’ll sing it now until we’re done,

For it was just the verse of one,

When we began,

When it becomes the verse worn out,

We’ll sing it even though we’re through,

Until we sing the verse of two,

We sang it through our children’s sleep,

And in the time we watched them dream,

And watched them grow like one, two, three,

And suddenly did leave our knee,

For when they are grown and gone from home,

and flown the coop we built when young,

But never told us of their dreams,

Somehow the dreams all children knew,

Until at last we flew alone,

Upon the wind,

Upon the grass,

And only put the night to bed,

But on its forehead it was kissed,

Then unseen the older feathers grayed,

By keeping watch in wintry years,

Until at last we did alight,

upon some wall to make our rest,

And as we watch ourselves held close,

In cold and warm,

By Spring from Spring,

Anon the Moon learned lullabies,

To wake us when we’ve had bad dreams.

— Albert Turner Goins