Mad Mother’s Lullaby

by Caroline Misner


Hush, hush, sweet baby boy,
not a word must you utter.
Shut your eyes against the night,
without you the night would be much better.

You diminish me, sweet child, bit by bit;
fragments of a broken puzzle
that never seem to fit.

Keep quiet, my love
and don’t say a word.
Hush, hush, sweet baby;
you don’t want to be heard.

A creature of silence and sometimes of sound;
if not for you, sweet baby,
I wouldn’t stay around.

Hush, hush, sweet baby boy,
not a sound must you utter.
If you were dead right now,
my life would be much better.

Mother tomorrow and mother today.
Hush, hush, sweet baby
and please go away.