Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Original Text
Eugene Field, Lullaby-Land: Poems of Childhood (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904): 167-72.
2    Sailed off in a wooden shoe--
3Sailed on a river of crystal light,
4    Into a sea of dew.
5"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
6    The old moon asked the three.
7"We have come to fish for the herring fish
8    That live in this beautiful sea;
9    Nets of silver and gold have we!"
10          Said Wynken,
11          Blynken,
12          And Nod.
13The old moon laughed and sang a song,
14    As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
15And the wind that sped them all night long
16    Ruffled the waves of dew.
17The little stars were the herring fish
18    That lived in that beautiful sea--
19"Now cast your nets wherever you wish--
20    Never afeard are we";
21    So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
22          Wynken,
23          Blynken,
24          And Nod.
25All night long their nets they threw
26    To the stars in the twinkling foam--
27Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
28    Bringing the fishermen home;
29'T\was all so pretty a sail it seemed
30    As if it could not be,
31And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
32    Of sailing that beautiful sea--
33    But I shall name you the fishermen three:
34          Wynken,
35          Blynken,
36          And Nod.
37Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
38    And Nod is a little head,
39And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
41So shut your eyes while mother sings
42    Of wonderful sights that be,
43And you shall see the beautiful things
44    As you rock in the misty sea,
45    Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
46          Wynken,
47          Blynken,
48          And Nod.

Notes

1] The 1910 edition (The Poems of Eugene Field, Complete Edition (Toronto: McClelland and Goodchild, 1910): 234-35; ROBA PS 1665 A2 1910) adds "Dutch Lullaby" to the end of the title. Back to Line
40] trundle-bed: low bed on casters. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1904
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1997.
Rhyme