My father brought Somebody up
To show us all asleep.
They came as softly up the Stairs
As you could creep.
They whispered in the Doorway there,
And looked at us awhile.
I had my Eyes shut up, but I
Could feel him smile.
I shut my Eyes up close, and lay
As still as I could keep.
Because I knew He wanted us
To be asleep.
From "The Book of the Little Past," by Josephine Preston Peabody;
used by permission of the publishers, Houghton Mifflin Co.