Explore "De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep" by James Weldon Johnson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Cuddle down, ma honey, in yo' bed, / Go to sleep an' res' yo' little head, / Been a-kind o' ailin' all de day?
Didn't have no sperit fu' to play?
Never min'; to-morrer, w'en you wek, / Daddy's gwine to ride you on his bek, / 'Roun' an' roun' de cabin flo' so fas' --
Der! He's closed his little eyes at las'.
De little pickaninny's gone to sleep, / Cuddled in his trundle bed so tiny, / De little pickaninny's gone to sleep, / Closed his little eyes so bright an' shiny.
Hush! an' w'en you walk across de flo'
Step across it very sof' an' slow.
De shadders all aroun' begin to creep, / De little pickaninny's gone to sleep.
Mandy, w'at's de matter wid dat chile?
Keeps a-sighin' ev'y little w'ile;
Seems to me I heayhd him sorter groan, / Lord! his little han's am col' as stone!
W'at's dat far-off light dat's in his eyes?
Dat's a light dey's borrow'd f'om de skies;
Fol' his little han's across his breas', / Let de little pickaninny res'.