Steady in the kitchen, steady in the hall,
Do n't let the dipper or the gruel pot fall!
The ole blind's flapping
And the little dog's snapping
At the butcher and the baker and the woodman when they call.
Ssh! ssh! ssh! for the little boy peeping,
Ssh! ssh! ssh! did the milky make him start?
Little boy sleeping, sleeping, sleeping,
Little boy sleeping at his mother's heart.
What a lot of noises, carts and buzzing flies!
Keep his little hands down, shut his little eyes;
For the boys are larking
And the dogs are barking
And he can n't go to bye-low though he tries and tries.
Ssh! ssh! ssh! for the little boy blinking,
Blinking at the fairies who are wanting him to go;
Little boy thinking, thinking, thinking,
Little boy thinking if he will or no.
Rubs his little eye for to push the sleep away;
Better on the lawn is it? Watching spriggies play?
Minahs and starlings,
But no such darlings
As the little boy that's never been to sleep this day.
Ssh! ssh! ssh! for the big eyes gleaming,
Dee, dee, softly his mother sings;
Little boy dreaming, dreaming, dreaming,
Fluttering to bye-low on bull-fly wings.