Subject: Lyr Add: ROCK ME TO SLEEP (Elizabeth Akers Allan^^
From:
Uncle Jaque
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 09:02 PM
A mention was recently made of the song "Rock Me To Sleep, Mother" mentioned in the diary of a Civil War Veteran. Fellow Reenactors discovered this song in the attic of the 5th Maine Regimental Lodge on Peaks Island, Maine during restoration efforts and provided me with a copy. Since then I have found several other versions. The lyrics are a poem written by Elizabeth Akers ALLAN of Portland, Maine around 1860, and set to music by a writer who did not give her credit for the lyrics. She sued for royalties, but at that time it was "unheard of" for a woman to initiate litigation - especially against a man. She apparently won, but only a token amount was awarded and she died in obscurity and poverty despite her brilliant works in poetry, sculpture, and journalism. She was, apparently, a woman ahead of her time.
Since I was unable to find this song within the DigiTrad Database, I offer it now for inclusion.
ROCK ME TO SLEEP
Elizabeth Akers Allan
Portland, Maine
Civil war Journalist \ War correspondent c. 1860
Backward, turn backward, O time in your flight,
Make me a child again just for to-night!
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 to-night for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep;
Rock me to sleep, mother, - rock me to sleep!
* One version prints as "Soul-Wreath"
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 brushing my face,
Never hereafter to wake or to weep; -
Rock me to sleep, mother, - rock me to sleep!
Over my heart, in the days that have 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 to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
For with it's 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!
^^
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