Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
Lullaby
Close your sleepy eyes, or the pale moonlight will steal you,
Else in the mystic silence, the moon will turn you white.
Then you won't see the sunshine, nor smell the open roses,
Nor love your Mammy anymore, whose skin is dark as night.
You will only love the shadows, and the foam upon the billows,
The shadow of the vulture's wings, the call of mystery
The hooting of the night owl, and the howling of the jackal,
The sighing of the evil winds, the call of mystery.
Wherever moonlight stretches her arms across the heavens,
You will follow, always follow, till you become instead,
A shade in human draperies, with palm fronds for your pillow,
In place of Mammy's bibini, asleep on his wee bed.
Written by Gladys May Casely-Hayford (1904-1950)
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