Song: Oh! Go to Sleep

Joseph Rodman Drake 1795 (New York City) – 1820 (New York City)



Oh! go to sleep, my baby dear,
And I will hold thee on my knee;
Thy mother's in her winding sheet,
And thou art all that's left to me.
My hairs are white with grief and age,
I've borne the weight of every ill,
And I would lay me with my child,
But thou art left to love me still.

Should thy false father see thy face,
The tears would fill his cruel e'e,
But he has scorned thy mother's woe,
And he shall never look on thee:
But I will rear thee up alone,
And with me thou shalt aye remain;
For thou wilt have thy mother's smile,
And I shall see my child again.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXAXBXB XAXAXXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 568
Words 118
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Joseph Rodman Drake

Joseph Rodman Drake was an early American poet. more…

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