Asleep (Sleep, Nestlings, Sleep) Lyrics
Mother birds murmur peep, and the poem tells the nestlings to sleep. A tired girl rests her head against the cradle, and the baby inside floats in dreams as the cradle swings like a fairy boat. Seven lines that end where they began.
Asleep (Sleep, Nestlings, Sleep)
While mother birdlets murmur - "Peep!
Sleep, nestlings, sleep!"
And tired Margery's flaxen head
Is resting on the cradle bed;
The babe, its white lids closed, afloat
In dreams, swings light in its fairy boat,
Sleep, nestlings, sleep.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/asleep-sleep-nestlings-sleep/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Lullabies
- Tune
- Very soft and slow, the peeps whispered, with the last line almost a breath
- Best for ages
- 1 to 5 years
What Does Asleep (Sleep, Nestlings, Sleep) Mean?
The poem sets two bedtimes side by side: the nest and the cradle. In the nest, the mother birds murmur "Peep!" and the poem tells the nestlings, young birds still living in the nest, to sleep. In the house, Margery is tired, and her flaxen head, meaning pale yellow like flax, rests on the cradle bed. The baby inside the cradle has closed its eyes and is "afloat in dreams", rocking "in its fairy boat".
The line "Sleep, nestlings, sleep" appears as the second line and again as the last, so the poem rocks back to where it began. Its rhymes come in pairs too: peep with sleep, head with bed, and afloat with boat.
It makes a gentle lullaby for reading rather than singing. The sound of whispered "peep" is a way to settle a small child, and the picture of a swaying cradle as a boat suits a baby being rocked.
History and Origin
The poem is signed with the initials K. E. C. in Songs for the Little Ones at Home, a collection first published in 1884 and revised in 1911. The initials are all the collection gives, so the writer's name is not known.
The poem's lines have a swing to them, which suits the rocking cradle it describes.
Learning Activities
- Whisper peeps: whisper peep softly and let the child join in as you rock a doll or toy.
- Cradle boat: rock a soft toy in a small box and sail it across a blanket sea.
- Nest and cradle: draw a nest on one side of a page and a cradle on the other, and put a sleeper in each.
- Last line only: repeat sleep, nestlings, sleep more and more quietly until it is just a breath.