Friday, August 14, 2009

Poetry Friday: A SE Asian Lullaby

This week at Chasing Ray, Colleen is hosting a SE Asia Round-up. One author I read was Minfong Ho. While reviewing her titles I realized one of my girls' favorite books was The Clay Marble. Today however, I'm featuring Hush, a lullaby. I love the refrain. The colors, images and the sound of the words interchangeably will make any child giggle and feel soothed.


Hush!
Who's that weeping
in the wind?

"Wee-wee, Wee-wee,
A small mosquito.

Mosquito, mosquito
don't you come weeping
Can't you see that
Baby's sleeping?
Mosquito, mosquito,
don't you cry,
My baby's sleeping
right nearby.

Hush!
Who's that peeping
from the ceiling? "

TUK-GHAA, TUK-GHAA!"
a long-tail lizard.

Lizard, lizard,
don't come peeping.
Can't you see that
bay's sleeping?
Lizard, lizard,
don't you cry,
My baby's sleeping
right neaby....

Minfong Ho
Born January 7, 1951
Rangoon, Burma

Poetry Friday is hosted this week at wrung sponge.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this! I love lullabys from other cultures anyway - seems like moms everywhere know what's good to get kids to sleep! I'm so glad you posted it!

jama said...

Love this book! Nice to hear those words again. Thanks!!

Color Online said...

Rhapsody,

It seems I love the extremes. I love reading books for the very young or the teens. The middle years, my selections are often hit or miss.

jama,

I picked up a couple more titles, too thanks to the round-up. Stay tune for those.

Tea said...

Glad I came by. I very much enjoyed reading "Hush." Thank you.

Ali said...

I used to read this with Ben when he was small--we loved it! Thanks for the memory. (Can't wait to pick him up from summer camp tomorrow!!!)