The Band of Children
Refrain
The stars shall light your journey;
Your mother holds you close and warm;
The donkey's pace shall rock you:
Sleep, baby, dream no harm.
What songs are these,
faint heard and far?
The wind, maybe, in palm trees tall,
Or running stream, or nightbird's call.
The dark lies deep on desert,
Where Joseph walked and Mary rode,
The dark lies deep on desert --
Sleep well, thou child of God: Refrain
What songs are these,
faint heard and far?
'Tis neither wind in palm trees tall,
Nor waterbrook, nor nightbird's call.
It is the voice of children
Where Joseph walked and Mary rode,
The fierce wild beasts are friendly --
Sleep well, thou child of God: Refrain
What forms are these, clear on the dark,
That shine, and yet are flesh and blood,
That laugh and sing along the road?
It is a crowd of children
Where Joseph walked and Mary rode,
A singing crowd of children --
Sleep well, thou child of God: Refrain
Never was seen so strange a guard:
About the footsore travellers they
In lovely circles moved, till day,
Until the baby wakened,
While Joseph trudged and Mary rode!
Such lullaby be all men's.
Sleep well, thou child of God: Refrain