Rock Me To Sleep by Elizabeth Akers Allen (1997)

Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight;
Make me a child again, just for tonight!
Mother, come back from that echoless shore;
Take me again in your heart as of yore --
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair,
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep --
Rock me to sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep
Backward, turn backward, O tide of the years!

 I am so weary of toil and of tears --
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain --
Take them and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay --

Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away --

Weary of sowing for others to reap --

Rock me to sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep!

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,

Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!

Many a summer the grass has grown green,

Blossomed and faded -- our faces between --

Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain,

Long I tonight for your presence again;

Come from the silence,
mother -- rock me to sleep!

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,

Fall on your shoulders again as of old --

Let it drop over my forehead tonight,

Shading my faint eyes away from the light!

For, with its sunny-edged shadows once more,

Haply will throng all the visions of yore;

Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep --

Rock me to sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep!

Mother, dear mother! the years have been long

Since I last listened to your lullaby song;

Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem

Womanhood's years have been only a dream;

With your light lashes just sweeping my face,

Never hereafter to wake or to weep --

Rock me sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep!

Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182732

Analysis:

              I chose the poem “Rock Me to Sleep” by Elizabeth Akers Allen to relate to my theme on childhood. I love the way the poet uses the daughters sweet memories of her childhood and the connection with her mother and compare it to the feelings that she is facing now. The poet does a great job explaining that special bond a mother and daughter have together, the nurturing and confront of a mother figure, it really can’t compare to anything. Allen made this poem easy to understand and used a past and present timeline that I think made this poem stronger.

This poem gives us a story that is about a daughter who is talking about her mother, who had passed away and how she wishes to be a child again, so she can be in her mother’s arms one last time. This poem really gives off a really strong emotion, not just because of the deceased mother, but of the powerful connection a parent and child have between each other. Sometimes we don’t realize just how much a mother (guardian) means to us, until they’re gone. “Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight; Make me a child again, just for one night! Mother, come back from that echoless shore; Take me again in your heart as of your—“ I know sometimes, many of us that go through a rough patch in life and we automatically wish we could go back in time. That moment of our mother tucking us in bed, reading us a story, and feeling the warmth of her hug when she tells a goodnight, that moment where nothing else in the world matters.  

"Rock me to sleep, mother -- rock me to sleep!" was used as the title and throughout the poem to symbolize a sweet childhood, a moment in your life that you wish you could return to. I think the poet did an amazing job putting such and indescribable bond, between a mother and child, into words.  This is such touching poem and something that almost everyone can relate to and a feeling that everyone deserves to experience.