A Mother to her Sick Child

A Mother to her Sick Child written by William Henry Davies

From "Child Lovers", (1916)

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Thou canst not understand my words,
  No love for me was meant;
The smile that lately crossed thy face
  Was but an accident.

The music's thine, but mine the tears
  That make thy lullaby;
To-day I'll rock thee into sleep,
  To-morrow thou must die.

And when our babies sleep their last,
  Like agèd dames or men,
They need nor mother's lullaby,
  Nor any rocking then.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.