©2023 michael raven
all the pretty horses
dancing the rings fey on the
night of hidden face moon
a score corbies feasting eyes
and on young mothers' lies
hush a bye whiskey lamb
close your mouth and eyes
sleep yourself awhile,
sleep 'til a dew dripped morn
sceadugenga 
Once again, very lyrical, Michael.
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Wow, I love this lullaby. And this dreamy line: ” a score corbies feasting eyes.” Also a new word for me and now I can’t stop thinking about it : ) – thanks, Michael!
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You’re very welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m never certain how these more experimental pieces will be received after I write them.
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I used to sing “all the pretty horses” to my kids when they were little. Very interesting how you took that line and went in another direction. I’ve also never knew the word corbies but I love the way it sounds and it works so good here. Excellent writing.
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Thank you!
I was reading something else that brought me to that song (“Hush a Bye Baby” as the alternate title) and found that at least one of the early variations of the song has a rather disturbing verse to be singing to kiddos with “buzzards an’ flies, a picking at his eyes” in reference to the little lammy. That is where I drew from with some of my direction.
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Yikes! It’s really crazy when we think about the meaning behind some old children’s songs—like Ring Around the Rosie. Not sure if things have changed all that much, we just tend to hide the truth by mostly not talking about it (or arguing if it even is real).
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I think we’ve become overprotective and hide from children much more than ever before. But I’m an outlier.
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I agree. My children attended a K-8 Waldorf school and while they were shielded from media influences, they heard Grimm’s fairytales at a young age and studied religion, philosophy, and history in great unshielded detail. The conversations we’ve had as a result of those exposures has made them stronger in dealing with the patterns they see in the world and overall has helped them form their own ideas about politics, life, and religion. They are still young (18 and 15), but the biggest thing I notice is they don’t shy away from hard conversations and they are willing to listen and debate their points. My son, especially, welcomes healthy discussion. Kids think about big things and to dismiss those questions and debates when they are young really does them a disservice.
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Sounds awesome. I try to keep conversations frank, but with a sense of humor (where possible) and only back off from difficult topics when THEY ask me to stop. I might not bring up things myself they have no context for, but if they bring it up, anything is fair game.
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