Poem-A-Day: Rock Me to Sleep by Elizabeth Akers Allen

November 2, 2013 Rock Me to Sleep by Elizabeth Akers Allen     Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, Make me a child again just for tonight! Mother, come back from the echoless shore, Take me again to your heart as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;--       Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tears,--   Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,--    Take them, and give me my childhood again! I have grown weary of dust and decay,--    Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away; Weary of sowing for others to reap;--    Rock me to sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep! Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! Many a summer the grass has grown green, Blossomed and faded, our faces between: Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain, Long I tonight for your presence again. Come from the silence so long and so deep;--    Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Over my heart, in the days that are flown, No love like mother-love ever has shone; No other worship abides and endures,--       Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours: None like a mother can charm away pain From the sick soul and the world-weary brain. Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;--       Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold, Fall on your shoulders again as of old; Let it drop over my forehead tonight, Shading my faint eyes away from the light; For with its sunny-edged shadows once more Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore; Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;--    Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Mother, dear mother, the years have been long Since I last listened your lullaby song: Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem Womanhood's years have been only a dream. Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace, With your light lashes just sweeping my face, Never hereafter to wake or to weep;--       Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep!           Today's poem is in the public domain.  About This Poem While traveling in Rome, Elizabeth Akers Allen sent "Rock Me to Sleep" to the Saturday Evening Post of Philadelphia. In 1866, she published a volume of poetry which included "Rock Me to Sleep," thus sparking a controversy with Alexander M.W. Ball of New Jersey, who claimed authorship. Regardless, Elizabeth Akers Allen is remembered chiefly for this sentimental poem, especially popular during the Civil War. Poetry by Akers Allen The Sunset Song and Other Verses (Forgotten Books, 2012)               Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.     Elizabeth Akers Allen was born in Farmington, Maine, in 1832. She began to write at the age of fifteen, and in 1855 published  Forest Buds, a collection of original poems. As an adult, Akers Allen traveled through Europe, serving as a correspondent for the Portland Transcript and the Boston Evening Gazette. She started contributing to the Atlantic Monthly in 1858. Elizabeth Akers Allen died on August 7, 1911 in Tuckahoe, New York.    Related Poems Mama, Come Back by Nellie Wong Since Nine-- by C. P. Cavafy Blues by Elizabeth Alexander __________________________ Love reading Poem-A-Day? Help support it today.     Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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