Return to Slumber
(translated into English)The boy was up in the middle of the night.
He sang and danced and skipped about.
There was a sharp knocking sound.
“Go back to bed!” spoke his father,
Who remained invisible behind the door.
The boy walked to his bed quickly.
Yet he did not get back in.
He danced again. He played. He sang with joy.
His bedroom door swung open
And in walked his loving mother.
She put down a stack of letters and left.
“Go back to bed” they all said.
After reading all of them he looked at his bed, and
Then returned to his dance, his play and his song.
The full moon at his window was suddenly obscured by
The even greater glow of an angel in flowing robes:
“Go back to bed! You are disturbing your little sister.”
“She woke me first!” objected the boy.
The angel reached a hand and touched the boy’s heart.
An ocean of understanding began to flood his room.
“I must go back to bed” he acknowledged with a whisper.
He lay down on the floor in turmoil and sadness.
The sea washed sheets of sand over him.
The waters pushed him back to sleep.
by Earl Lhwyd (writing as Nicéphore Whitehouse)
