Poems and Books for Baby
Here are some poems you can memorize and recite to your baby, or combine with any pictures you like and print out to make your own book. Sing-Song is online here.
If you are looking for some books for your baby to get off to the best start, try classic poems and illustrators in durable board-book editions. Some suggestions:
My Little Book About God illustrated by Eloise Wilkin
Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones
Jessie Willcox Smith's Mother Goose for Kids
Eloise Wilkin's Mother Goose
Eloise Wilkin's Poems to Read to the Very Young
Single-poem books illustrated by Dianne O'Quinn Burke, such as Wee Willie Winkie
A Child's Garden of Verses compiled by Cooper Edens with a Jessie Willcox Smith picture on the cover
Poems for Baby from Sing-Song by Christina Rossetti
01
Angels at the foot,
And Angels at the head,
And like a curly little lamb
My pretty babe in bed.
02
Love me, - I love you,
Love me, my baby;
Sing it high, sing it low,
Sing it as may be.
Mother's arms under you,
Her eyes above you;
Sing it high, sing it low,
Love me - I love you.
03
Your brother has a falcon,
Your sister has a flower;
But what is left for mannikin,
Born within a hour?
I'll nurse you on my knee, my knee,
My own little son;
I'll rock you, rock you, in my arms,
My least little one.
04
Crying, my little one, footsore and weary?
Fall asleep, pretty one, warm on my shoulder:
I must tramp on through the winter night dreary,
While the snow falls on me colder and colder.
You are my one, and I have not another;
Sleep soft, my darling, my trouble and treasure;
Sleep warm and soft in the arms of your mother,
Dreaming of pretty things, dreaming of pleasure.
05
My baby has a mottled fist,
My baby has a neck in creases;
My baby kisses and is kissed,
For he's the very thing for kisses.
06
The dog lies in his kennel,
And Puss purrs on the rug,
And baby perches on my knee
For me to love and hug.
Pat the dog and stroke the cat,
Each in its degree;
And cuddle and kiss my baby,
And baby kiss me.
07
What does the bee do?
Bring home honey.
And what does Father do?
Bring home money.
And what does Mother do?
Lay out the money.
And what does baby do?
Eat up the honey.
08
I know a baby, such a baby,-
Round blue eyes and cheeks of pink,
Such an elbow furrowed with dimples,
Such a wrist where creases sink.
"Cuddle and love me, cuddle and love me,"
Crows the mouth of coral pink:
Oh, the bald head, and, oh, the sweet lips,
And, oh, the sleepy eyes that wink!
09
Lullaby, oh, lullaby!
Flowers are closed and lambs are sleeping;
Lullaby, oh, lullaby!
Stars are up, the moon is peeping;
Lullaby, oh, lullaby!
While the birds are silence keeping,
(Lullaby, oh, lullaby!)
Sleep, my baby, fall a-sleeping,
Lullaby, oh, lullaby!
More Lullabies and Poems
10 - Cradle Song by William Blake 1757-1827
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming in the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.
As thy softest limbs I feel
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast
Where thy little heart doth rest.
O the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart doth wake,
Then the dreadful night shall break.
12 - Dance, Little Baby by Ann Taylor
Dance, little baby, dance up high,
Never mind baby, mother is by ;
Crow and caper, caper and crow,
There little baby, there you go ;
Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,
Backwards and forwards, round and round;
Dance little baby, and mother shall sing,
With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding.
Variation:
Read, little baby, read and grow,
Look at the pictures, we'll go slow.
Read and wonder, listen and know,
There, little baby, there you go!
Read, little baby, read and learn;
Backwards and forwards, pages turn.
Read, little baby, Mother will, too,
Such a happy story,
All for you!
13 - Lullaby of an Indian Chief by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
O hush thee, my babie, thy sire was a knight,
Thy mother a lady, both lovely and bright;
The woods and the glens, from the towers which we see,
They all are belonging, dear babie, to thee.
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo,
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo.
O fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows,
It calls but the warders that guard thy repose;
Their bows would be bended, their blades would be red,
Ere the step of a foeman drew near to thy bed.
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo,
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo.
O hush thee, my babie, the time soon will come
When thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum;
Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may,
For strife comes with manhood, and waking with day.
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo,
O ho ro, i ri ri, cadul gu lo.
14 - Sweet and Low by Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809-1883
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother's breast,
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon:
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.
15 - A Baby's Feet by Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837-1909
A baby's feet, like sea shells pink,
Might tempt, should heaven see meet
An angel's lips to kiss, we think,
A baby's feet.
Like rose-hued sea flowers toward the heat
They stretch and spread and wink
Their ten soft buds that part and meet.
No flower bells that expand and shrink
Gleam half so heavenly sweet,
As shine on life's untrodden brink
A baby's feet.
16 - A Bunch of Roses by John Bannister Tabb
The rosy mouth and rosy toe
Of little baby brother
Until about a month ago
Had never met each other;
But nowadays the neighbors sweet,
In every sort of weather,
Half way with rosy fingers meet,
To kiss and play together.