Poem 4 - "Urban Lullaby"

Urban Lullaby

Avigayil Rosensweig

On a seven train one evening, winding its way home

Past brick-laid rooftops, its rattling an unsteady urban lullaby

I caught a glimpse through your bedroom window

And saw you, a mound beneath a floral bedspread

A splash of lamplight, dark hair on a pillow

You, like most of the city, asleep

Unaware, or aware, that every passenger saw you sleep

Hurtling past on slender rails above your home

Beheld you, unprotected, your cheek against the pillow

Perhaps you hummed yourself a lullaby

Lonely, as you folded back the bedspread

Threw open your curtains to let the city in through your window

Rain beaded on the train car window

You looked like a child, unguarded while asleep

How they fling themselves across the bedspread

Unafraid, because they are home

Soothed into slumber by a parent’s lullaby

Small heads barely denting the pillow

By midnight lying horizontal to the pillow

Dappled by light coming in through the window

Serene, dreams unfold the lyrics of a lullaby

Less lively, but infinitely guileless, while asleep

However neatly tucked, bedtime at home

Always ending up a tangle across the bedspread

Hair fluttering over the edge, wispy against the bedspread

Crown to toe, height only the length of a pillow

Slipping through dreams, until they awaken and come home

Shivering as air breezes through the window

“Tremble, tremble, and do not sin”—a song before they fall asleep

A laugh of surprise; what a terribly Brisker lullaby

To the sleepwalking child, befuddled, a calm voice is a lullaby

Carried back to a sleep-mussed bedspread

Small limbs weighted with sleep

Eyelashes against her cheeks as soon as she hits the pillow

Each gossamer strand glowing as the nightlight reflects in the window

She breaths easy, in the blankets of her own bed, at home

Sooth their dreams with a lullaby, watch their breath ease against the pillow

Smooth down the bedspread, draw the blinds across the window

Coax them into sleep, bundled deep within their homes