Blake’s lullaby opens with a mother’s gentle wishes—sweet dreams and soft sleep hovering over her child like a protective shade. The voice is tender, full of murmuring comforts: pleasant streams, moony beams, dovelike sighs. But this is not simply a nursery rhyme. A quiet ache enters when she sings, “Sleep, sleep, happy child, / ... While o’er thee doth mother weep.” The weeping suggests a parent’s deep awareness that the world outside this cradle holds suffering, even as she shields her infant from it for a night. The poem then deepens into a personal act of faith: looking at the baby’s face, she traces a “Holy image,” remembering that Christ once lay as an infant and wept for everyone. That thought transforms the lullaby into something shared—those divine smiles now encircle mother, child, and all creation. The mood is hushed and rocking, intimate yet quietly profound, as a simple bedtime song becomes a meditation on innocence, love, and the hope that softens sorrow.
A SONG — Summary
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 doth 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.