Nurse's song

(John) Michael Jacques

When the voices of children are heard on the green

And laughing is heard on the hill,

My heart is at rest within my breast

And everything else is still.

"Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down

And the dews of night arise;

Come, come, leave off play, and let us away

Till the morning appears in the skies."

"No, no, let us play, for it is yet day

And we cannot go to sleep;

Besides, in the sky the little birds fly

And the hills are all cover'd with sheep."

"Well, well, go & play till the light fades away

And then go home to bed."

The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh'd

And all the hills echoed.