1997
A Widow’s Lullaby at Winter Quarters, 1846
July 1997


“A Widow’s Lullaby at Winter Quarters, 1846,” Ensign, July 1997, 42

A Widow’s Lullaby at Winter Quarters, 1846

Sleep, my little one—

Sleep while Mother dreams

Of your comely smile

And your small hands cupping my heart;

Of my completeness, holding you;

The happy burden of your trust;

My pride in your unfolding;

The wonders wished for you

Since our first touch.

Even here—

Here in this wind-whipped place,

This savage wilderness,

You have been my courage

And my star.

Sleep, my little one—

Sleep in your narrow bed

Under your coverlet of prairie sod

And stones gently piled …

Sleep, while Mother dreams

And weeps—

Walking the long, lonely miles ahead.3

  1. Ensign, July 1984, 7.