Seal’s Lullaby

Rudyard Kipling

Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,

And black are the waters that sparkled so green.

The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,

At rest in the hollows that rustle between.

Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,

Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!

The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,

Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas!

 A Little Poetry—This beautiful lullaby opens the story of “The White Seal” in Kipling’s popular Jungle Book.

A Little Music—Composer Eric Whitacre wrote a choral transcription of Kipling’s lullaby for a DreamWorks film that has since been cancelled. You can watch Whitacre conduct Junges Vokalensemble Hannover at YouTube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLDD7O29T4>