  GOOD-NIGHT and pleasant dreams! Forgotten all that play-day world of yours, Kind angels lead you now by distant shores; Dear childish hands clasped lightly o’er your breast, Dear eyes with lids that keep the dark away, What sweet content is now by you possessed! I feel your breath against my cheek and say Good-night, good-night! Good-night and pleasant dreams! Good-night and pleasant dreams! The children’s lives so different are from ours, Is there not made for them a land of flowers,— A childhood’s land of sleep where they are taken,— Where dreams are only dreams of childish toys And only sounds of childish voices waken The quiet ways, and say to girls and boys Good-night, good-night! Good-night and pleasant dreams! Good-night and pleasant dreams! Go to your quiet land of sleep and dreaming, Beyond the darkness, passed the stars a-gleaming. The plains of your sleep-land are green and fair; Out of the night they make a land of morning From which is banished even childish care; Stay on, sleep on, dear child, the night world scorning,— Good-night, good-night! Good-night and pleasant dreams! Good-night and pleasant dreams! Good-bye, and gentle angels guard your sleep, Good-night, and angels watch above you keep. Ah, if we could our childish days prolong— If sleep would always come as sweet as this, Shielding us from the world of dark and wrong, Just by the magic of a mother’s kiss, And her good-night! Good-night and pleasant dreams! |
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