I hear thy voice, dear Lord;
I hear it by the stormy sea
When winter nights are black and wild;
And when affright I call to thee,
It calms my fears, and whispers me,
“Sleep well, my child.”
I hear thy voice, dear Lord,
In singing winds, in falling snow,
The curfew chime, the midnight bell:
“Sleep well, my child,” it murmurs low,
“The guardian angels come and go—
O child, sleep well!”
I hear thy voice, dear Lord:
Ay, though the singing winds be stilled,
Though hushed the tumult of the deep,
My fainting heart with anguish chilled,
By thy assuring tone is thrilled—
“Fear not and sleep.”
Speak on—speak on, dear Lord;
And when the last dread night is near,
With doubts and fears and terrors wild,
Oh, let my soul expiring hear
Only these words of heavenly cheer,
“Sleep well, my child!”
This beautiful hymn was reprinted far and wide, and was incorporated, we
are told, in “The Golden Harp” series of choice religious lyrics
compiled by Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1857.[1]
Footnote 1:
This lullaby has been set to music by Rev. Hon. N. K. Griggs of
Beatrice, Neb. The composer has changed the phraseology of the lullaby
somewhat, “so as to make the tune sing smoothly,” as he says.
But the most pretentious of Cooley’s poems—with the exception of his
Latin hexameter discourse—was his “Vision of the Holy Grail,” a graceful
imitation of Old English, printed in the holiday edition of “The Ann
Arbor News” in 1856. Although this poem is somewhat longer than we could
wish at this time, when our space is limited, we are fain to make room
for it as a delicately conceived and artistically executed piece of
literature.