I received this in the mail, to my delight. The sender says it is by Thomas Devkker, 1570?-1641?. Can anyone tell me more about the author of these evocative words?
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you.
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
(This is my first "clickable" post so beware)
http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/dekker01.htmlJackie, there are more poems on this site but googling Thomas Dekker will give you several biographies of the penniless and once-a-jailbird poet.
Thank you
belMarduk!
Oh, thank you, my friend! I see that many of his poems celebrate what he apparently saw in his day-to-day life;
at any rate, I feel that I have an understanding of some things about the time he lived in. By today's standards I suppose his poems are quite simplistic, but hey--I like that kind! Here's another I thought was good:
Fortune Smiles
FORTUNE smiles, cry holiday,
Dimples on her cheeks do dwell,
Fortune frowns, cry welladay,
Her love is heaven, her hate is hell:
Since heaven and hell obey her power,
Tremble when her eyes do lour,
Since heaven and hell her power obey,
When she smiles, cry holiday.
Holiday with joy we cry
And bend, and bend and merrily,
Sing Hymns to Fortune's deity,
Sing Hymns to Fortune's deity.
Let us sing, merrily, merrily, merrily,
With our song let heaven resound,
Fortune's hands our heads have crown'd,
Let us sing merrily, merrily, merrily.
Thomas Dekker
Now this is pretty cool. The first four lines are quoted by the Beatles on the White Album. They replace "wantons" with another word which doesn't come to mind.
Could one of our resident philologists (AnnaS is sort of on sabbatical from such research) tell us what "wanton" meant in the early 17th century? My guess would be "carefree."
The word "lullaby" in the first poem reminds me I once read that some believe it was derived from 'Lillith abi"
Lillith being a legendary evil female who killed babies. And "abi" Latin for "begone". I found a long URL about it:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlilith.html
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English wantowen : wan-, not, lacking (from Old English; see eu- in
Appendix I) + towen, past participle of teen, to bring up (from Old English
ton, to lead, draw; see deuk- in Appendix I).
So it would seem that the original meaning of "wanton" was "not well brought up".
Nice double meaning there, my friend!
My favorite lullaby -- and, I think, the favorite of my boys as well -- is one which is best sung in a three-part round. The words are pretty basic, but the tune is absolutely haunting.
Russian Lullaby
Night time is falling
The moon will be rising
The stars will be shining
The sun's gone to sleep
Close your eyes
And I'll rock you gently
And wish you sweet
Dreams while you sleep
Good night
Good night
Now it is time to sleep
Good night
Good night
Now it is time to sleep
Lillith being a legendary evil female who killed babies.
According to the Kaballah, she was Adam's first wife, Dr Bill. I'm gobsmacked that a professional such as yourself would post a rumor rather than do his due research.
Of course I didn't intend to be replying to your post but rather to AnnaS's, but you knew that. And the ASp, being a flatliner, wouldn't have noticed.