A cradle song

Sweet dreams, form a shade
O'er my lovely infant's head!
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams
By happy, silent, moony beams!

Sweet Sleep, with soft down
Weave thy brows an infant crown
Sweet Sleep, angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child!

Sweet smiles, in the night
Hover over my delight!
Sweet smiles, mother's smile,
All the livelong night beguile.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thine eyes!
Sweet moan, sweeter smile,
All the dovelike moans beguile.

Sleep, sleep, happy child!
All creation slept and smiled.
Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,
While o'er thee [thy]1 mother weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face
Holy image I can trace;
Sweet babe, once like thee
Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:

Wept for me, for thee, for all,
When He was an infant small.
Thou His image ever see,
Heavenly face that smiles on thee!

Smiles on thee, on me, on all,
Who became an infant small;
Infant smiles are His own smiles;
Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "A cradle song", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 11, published 1789

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Ruth Bampton (1902-) , "Lullabye", published c1948.
by Garth Baxter (1946-) , "A Cradle Song" [voice and guitar], from Two Songs of Reflection, no. 2.
by Jacques (Jacob) Blumenthal (1829-1908) , "Cradle Song", published 1883 [partsong for SATB chorus and piano], from Songs of Innocence, no. 5.
by William Bolcom (1938-) , "A Cradle Song", 1956-81 [soloists, madrigal group, chorus, orchestra], from Songs of Innocence, no. 9.
by Harriet Hallock (Mrs. Harold A.) Bolz , "Cradle Song"
by Allen Stephen Brings (1934-) , "A Cradle Song", 1954, orchestrated 1959, stanza 2-?
by Christopher Roland Brown (1943-) , "Cradle Song", 1962 [soprano, clarinet and piano], from Three Songs of Innocence, no. 3.
by John Callis Brydson (1900-) , "A Cradle Song", published 1938. [SSA with piano]
by James Henry Baseden Butt (1929-) , "A Cradle Song", op. 60 no. 5, published 1980, from Five William Blake Songs, no. 5.
by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851-1935) , "Cradle song", published 1889, from Four songs, no. 4.
by Elizabeth Penn Sprague Coolidge (Mrs. Frederick Shurtleff Coolidge) (1864-1953) , "A cradle song", 19-?? [voice, piano], from Songs of Innocence, no. 3.
by Ronald Corp (1951-) , "A Cradle Song", published c1984. [SS, piano]
by Robert Elwood Crane (1919-) , "A Cradle Song", published c1954. [SATB a cappella]
by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) , "Cradle song", op. 16 no. 5, from Six Songs, no. 5.
by (John) Michael Jacques (1944-) , "A cradle song", 1966 [soprano voices and piano with optional accompaniment for strings, two clarinets, and piano], from Six Songs of Innocence, no. 5.
by Carl G. Linner , "A cradle song", c1922 [voice and piano], unpublished
by Philip Moore (1943-) , "Cradle song"
by David Evan Thomas (1958-) , "Sweet dreams, form a shade", 1995, stanzas 1-4 and the first two lines of stanza 5. [medium voice, piano]

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