[Marion Shore]

Stephanie, I found that very moving. No reason you can't do a serious one on a serious topic.

[Marion Shore]

Hush little baby don't you cry,
Momma's gonna buy you a pizza pie,
and if that pie don't fill you up,
Momma's gonna buy you an ice cream cup,
and if that cup don't do the trick
Momma's gonna buy you a candy stick,
and if that stick don't go too far,
Momma's gonna buy you a chocolate bar,
and if you weigh three hundred pounds,
you'll still be the cutest little baby in town.


Rock a bye baby on the treetop
When the swing swings, the baby will rock,
When the swing breaks the baby will fall,
Because the new swing set is on recall.

[George Simmers]

I thought of a couple of the more wayward girls in my classes when I was a teacher, whom I now see pushing prams round the town with great determination.

My baby, my darling, my cherub, my chum,
I hope you'll grow up with more sense than your mum.
They're cutting the benefits; times will be tough.
I'm all you've got, and I hope I'm enough.
Lullay, lullay, la-lullay.

I dream you'll be healthy, and happy and rich.
Darling, don't be a doormat, but don't be a bitch.
And don't treat your mother like I treated mine,
'Cause frankly, my love, I was sometimes a swine.
Lullay, lullay, la-lullay.

I dream that one day you will meet with a lad
As nice as the bloke I think must be your dad.
I was young, wild and wilful, and he was the same,
But oh how I wish that I'd found out his name.
Lullay, lullay, la-lullay.

[Roger Slater]

Lullaby

Hush, little baby, it's time to refresh
your brain's little browser, your keyboard of flesh,
it's time, little baby, oh baby of mine,
to exit your programs and slumber offline,
to pause in the middle of what you've been streaming
and bide for tonight on the pixels of dreaming.
Oh come, little baby, give daddy a hug,
and sleep, precious darling, it's time to unplug.
.
.

[John Whitworth]

George, I think you may have done it.

[Gail White]

I notice a number of us have used this contest as a critique of society.
This was mine:

Rock-a-bye baby, out on a limb,
Daddy's not working, but who'll hire him?
Job interviewers will laugh in his face
when they learn about that old embezzlement case.

Bye-baby-bunting, your mommy works too.
The less you know where, all the better for you.
Why some things are legal and others are not
has puzzled minds better than yours, little tot.

Bye baby bye, and be glad you don't know
that society went to the bad long ago,
and your parents, as part of society too,
are just two of the pains that life's saving for you.

Baby, don't sneer at your humble beginnings.
Your cradle was bought with our soccer pool winnings.
We manage to cope with our debts and our bills,
(though we wish we'd spent money on birth control pills).

[John Whitworth]

I wonder if Lucy has this in mind, by Cecil Day Lewis

A Carol

Oh hush thee, my baby,
Thy cradle's in pawn:
No blankets to cover thee
Cold and forlorn.
The stars in the bright sky
Look down and are dumb
At the heir of the ages
Asleep in a slum.

The hooters are blowing,
No heed let him take;
When baby is hungry
'Tis best not to wake.
Thy mother is crying,
Thy dad's on the dole:
Two shillings a week is
The price of a soul.

[FOsen]

Gail, I'm still cracking up over #3.

Frank

[Martin Parker]

Sleep, my little Pollyanna,
in your Dolce and Gabana.
Mummy has a dream for you
which like hers could all come true.

You spread yourself across Page Three,
grin and bare it on TV,
buy a great big shopping bag
and find you've grown to be a WAG.

You score a striker, make him slaver,
you get a pre-nup in your favour.
You wed in haste and live in leisure
and, when it ends, repent in pleasure.

Sleep, my little Pollyanna,
in your Dolce and Gabana.
Mummy's dream could all come true.
What did for her could do for you.

[Roger Slater]

One last try as the deadline approaches:


LULLABY

Rock a bye baby, snug in your diaper,
six months old, already a Skyper.

Rock a bye baby, nothing is cuter
than seeing your face on my computer.

I've left the volume set on high,
so hear my distant lullaby.

If anyone should hurt or vex you,
I will Skype, email or text you.

And if the world should dare offend you,
I'll be there online to friend you.

Rock a bye baby, darling young drowser,
close your sweet eyelids, but don't close your browser.