Lullaby for a Daughter
Go to sleep. Night is a coal pit
full of black water—
………………. night's a dark cloud
full of warm rain.
Go to sleep. Night is a flower
resting from bees—
………………. night's a green sea
swollen with fish.
Go to sleep. Night is a white moon
riding her mare—
………………. night's a bright sun
burned to black cinder.
Go to sleep,
night's come,
cat's day,
owl's day,
star's feast of praise,
moon to reign over,
her sweet subject, dark.
.
by Jim Harrison
from Selected and New Poems
Delacorte Press, 1982
.