"Cradle Song" (1894)
[Arranged for SSAA with Piano]
Words anon.
Music by George Frederick Root, 1820-1895

Cincinnati: The John Church Company
[Source: p. 59 from "The Treble Clef Choir";
compare to the 1887 version in "The Repertoire",
p. 119]

1. Sleep, my child, the shadows fall,
Silent darkness reigns o’er all;
Bird and bloom are lost to sight
In the folded arms of night;
Stars will soon from cloud-land peep,
While all nature lies asleep.

2. Buds are sleeping, close thine eyes,
Waken with a soft surprise;
Greet the morning with thy smile,
And sweet welcome without guile.
Scents lie sleeping in the flow’rs,
Slumber till the daylight hours.

3. Sleep! the woods and vales are still,
Silence reigns on tower and hilll;
O’er us both the pale stars shine
With a radiance half divive,
Oh, may slumber sweet and light
Fall from heav’n on thee tonight.