Off The Page~ a multimedia exploration of painting, poetry, storytelling and music
Rock-A_Bye Baby IV is based upon a familiar 17th century English dangling song. Its origin is obscure. Maybe it originated when the colonists saw that native peoples hung their infant's "cradles" from branch limbs.
I recall singing this jingle to my infants. The last line: "When the bough breaks/ the cradle will fall/ and down will go baby/cradle and all," could reveal a wish or, a fear.
%Rock a bye baby on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.%
