TO SAY BEFORE GOING TO SLEEP

I’d like to sing someone to sleep,

sit beside someone and be there.

I’d like to rock you and sing softly

and go with you to and from sleep.

I’d like to be the one in the house

who knew: the night was cold.

And I’d like to hear every little stirring

in you, in the world, in the woods.

The clocks call to one another striking,

and one sees to the bottom of time.

And down below a last strange man walks by

and rouses a strange dog.

And after that comes silence.

I have laid my eyes upon you wide;

and they hold you gently and they let you go

when a thing moves in the dark.