"Rock Me to Sleep" (1860)
Words by Florence Percy
[pseud. for Elizabeth Akers Allen, 1832-1911]
Music by Sir Julius Benedict, 1804-1885

[see also Music by Ernest Leslie]
[Boston: Russell & Pate]
[Source: pp. 160-164 from "The Parllour Song Book"]

1. 
Backward, turn backward, oh 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, 
Take me again a  gain to your heart, as of yore, 
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, 
Smooth the silver threads out of my hair, 
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; 
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; 

[REFRAIN sung after each verse]
Rock me to sleep rock me to sleep Mother, 
Mother, rock me to sleep. 
Rock me to sleep rock me to sleep, 
Mother, rock me to sleep.

2. 
Mother, dear Mother! the years have been long, 
Since I last hush’d to your lullaby song; 
Yet with strong yearnings and passionate pain, 
Long I tonight for your presence again. 
Long I tonight tonight for your presence again. 
Sick of the hollow, the base, the untrue, 
Mother, dear Mother, my  heart calls for you! 
Never hereafter to wake or to weep; 
Never hereafter to wake ot to weep;