16 March 2008

A Memory

Winken Blinken and Nod
Winken, Blinken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe --
Sailed off on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in the beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in the beautiful sea --
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish --
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fisherman three:
Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam --
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe
Bringing the fisherman home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea --
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.

Winken and Blinken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoes that sailed the skies
Is the wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fisherman three:
Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.


- Eugene Field

4 comments:

A.Fanny said...

Just beautiful - and typical of you, somehow, to come up with that! Now, I need to wake back up and git goin'!

Wicked Thistle said...

Wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL!! I was only mildly acquainted with Winken, Blinken and Nod as a child, so it's nice to see them in all their glory here.

moi said...

Now, if only someone would recite that to Moi at bedtime, I might have a gnat's chance in hell of getting a good night's "winken" myself.

Doris Rose said...

The reason for searching out that poem was my nightly dog walks, looking up at the stars invariably leads my mind to Winken, Blinken and Nod One night...I could never remember the rest. So, that's what happens to retired grey matter.

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