I find that my curiosity about writers of literature and poetry, sometimes leading to wonderful discovery. Eugene Field, most famous for the light hearted children's poem.....Wynken, Blynken and Nod, has afforded me great pleasure indeed.
No longer am I content for having read lovely poems, I want to know about the writer. In some instances I've been disappointed, finding them to have questionable life styles, even changing my feelings for their writing.
My research revealed Mr Eugene Field's father, attorney Martin Field, famous for his representation of Dred Scott, the slave who sued for his freedom. This case was referred to as the lawsuit that started the Civil War. Ah....what tangled webs we weave.....
Wynken, Blynken and Nod, skillfully written by Mr. Field, I think still delightful for "sleepy-headed" children.
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod~Eugene Field
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night sailed off in a wooden shoe-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 this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Wynken, Blynken 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 that beautiful sea;
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish, never afeared are we!"
So cried the stars to the fisherman three, Wynken, Blynken and Nod.
All night long their nets they threw to the stars in the twinkling foam;
Then down from the sky came the wooden shoe, bringing the fishermen home.
Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed as if it could not be; And some folk thought 'twas
a dream they'd dreamed of sailing that beautiful sea;
But I shall name you the fishermen three, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, and Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a 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 fishermen three, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
