Golden slumber

      The  Golden slumber

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 …

Memorably used by The Beatles as the lyrics for their song of the same name on the Abbey Road LP, ‘Golden Slumbers’ is a beautiful lullaby from Thomas Dekker’s 1603 play Patient Grissel, written with Henry Chettle and William Haughton.

This is one of the most soothing and beautiful poems of the Renaissance – and perhaps the best-known Renaissance lullaby, or ‘cradle song’, out there.