A Good-night

CLOSE now thine eyes and rest secure;
Thy soul is safe enough, thy body sure;
He that loves thee, He that keeps
And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.

The smiling conscience in a sleeping breast

Has only peace, has only rest;
The music and the mirth of kings
Are all but very discords, when she sings;
Then close thine eyes and rest secure;
No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.

Francis Quarles(1592 - 1644)


This popular lullaby originally published in 1632 in a collection called Divine Fancies and aplty illustrates that a poet writes best what he knows best: Quarles and his wife had eighteen children.

Sources: The Poet's Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems

Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/quarles1.html#2


CST Approved