The lyrics- also by Daniel Elder- are comforting, reassuring words which a mother would sing to her child, as the title suggests. But they can also be interpreted as comfort for those grieving a loss and the piece is sometimes sung at memorial services. In fact, one line of Lullaby is taken from the most well-known lyrics for Taps (also called Butterfield's Lullaby) the bugle call played at dusk and military funerals:
Lullaby, sing lullaby
The day is far behind you
The moon sits high atop the sky
Now let sweet slumber find you
Away, away
The day is done, and gone the sun
That lit the world so brightly
The earth's a-glow with speckled show
Of twinkling stars so sprightly
Away, away
Where the sunlight is beaming
Through a deep cloudless blue
And the treetops are gleaming
With a fresh morning dew
Where the mountains are shining
On the meadows below
In a brilliant white lining of a new fallen snow
Close your eyes, breathe in the night
A softer bed I'll make you
The trial is done, all danger gone
Now let far dreaming take you
Away, away
Where the ocean is lapping at a soft, pearly shore
And the swaying palms napping as their swinging fronds soar
Now the dark night approaches, yet so soft and so mild
Lullaby, sing lullaby
(Sleep, sleep)
Sleep, my child
(Now, my child)