Printable Vintage Art and Nature-Themed Lullaby: Around the Evening Lamp and In Gold and Purple

Evening you gather back
all that dazzling dawn has put asunder:
you gather a lamb, gather a kid,
gather a child to its mother.
― Sappho

Sleep my little baby-oh
Sleep until you waken
When you wake you'll see the world
If I'm not mistaken...

Kiss a lover
Dance a measure,
Find your name
And buried treasure...

Face your life
Its pain,
Its pleasure,
Leave no path untaken.
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

The above watercolour, titled “Around the Evening Lamp,” was painted by Carl Larsson (1853–1919) in 1900. Doesn't the vase of blooming poppies in the middle of the dining table make an absolutely stunning centrepiece? I thought it was clever to incoirporate the flowers into a twilight painting since poppies have traditionally been associated with sleep and dreams. I found the original work a bit cold (I think it was meant to represent a winter scene) so I warmed up the colours in my digitally enhanced version. If you like, you can download my version as a high-res, printable 9.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆⋆❁⋆

Since we are exploring themes of rest and sleep, I thought I would include this antique nature-themed lullaby with an illustration of a mother cradling a sleepy child on a porch with the setting sun in the background. Called “In Gold and Purple,” this work was first published in 1888 with words by Marian Fairlamb and music arranged by J. Remington Fairlamb, once an American Consul appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to a post in Zurich. The 8” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG of the lullaby can be found without a watermark here.

In gold and purple the sky is dressed, Bye, baby, bye!
The sun has sunk to his bed in the west, Bye, baby, bye!
And stars peep out to say “Good-night,”
To dear little baby all robed in white,
My baby whose golden locks shine in the light, Bye, baby, bye!

The trees are chanting a slumber song, Bye, baby, bye!
In time with the brook as it purls along, Bye, baby, bye!
The mother bird gathers its fledgings to rest,
And flutters above them all warm in their nest,
And baby's head lies on mother's breast, Bye, baby, bye!

My baby in slumberland soon will rest, Bye, baby, bye!
With visions in gold and purple blest, Bye, baby, bye!
Where skies are more fair and trees more green
Than anything mortal has ever seen,
But baby the brightest of all, I ween, Bye, baby, bye!

My baby's eyes are closing fast, Bye, baby, bye!
To weary limbs rest has come at last, Bye, baby, bye!
An angel stoops and kisses the face,
And baby smiles with cherubic grace,
And heav'nly light transfigures the place, Bye, baby, bye!


Antique nature lullaby is from my personal collection of ephemera. It can be incorporated into your creative works but is not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Free Vintage Nature Poem and Garden Illustration: Homing Birds

HOMING BIRDS
by Mary Rowles Jarvis

Out and away through the morning skies,
Where the rosy glamour of dawning lies,
As our silvery pinions cleave the blue,
Through the sun's dominions our course is true,
For we circle and soar the wide heavens through;
And many a beautiful thing we know
Of the sunlit skies, and the world below,
And many a secret we might show.
But though much we see, and though far we roam
We always come back to our own dear home!

We love to wheel round the leafless trees
In the keen delight of the northern breeze;
When dell and dingle their songs attune,
And roses mingle their sweets for June,
We curve and float through the dreamy noon.
And when the autumn its wealth hath told,
And earth is shorn of its bending gold,
We still go forth on our journeys bold,
As free as the sea-bird that skims the foam,
Yet bound by love to our own dear home.

Right glad are we as we mount and soar
Where only the lark hath passed before;
Where no annoyance, or fear, or toil,
Our eager joyaunce can fret and spoil,
Or dust of the earth our plumage soil.
But dearer far to the heart of a dove
Than sapphire breadths of the realness above,
Is the lowly shelter where love wins love;
Where wings too weary again to roam
All rest and happiness find at home.

Ah! homing birds, we too could tell
The old sweet lesson you preach so well!
Be it only a dove-cote, three feet square,
Or a Palace Beautiful, wide and fair,
The spell is the same spell everywhere.
Where perfect trust as the warden stands,
And kindness welcomes with outstretched hands,
And love makes silken her bonds and bands,
In moss-roofed cottage, or royal dome,
The heart rejoices in home, sweet home!

Antique illustration of a young woman feeding her homing birds in the garden. 8.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. You can also download the poem as it was originally printed (see below) by clicking once to expand, and then right-clicking on the image to save to your device:

Antique nature poem and illustration are from my personal collection of ephemera. They can be incorporated into your creative works but are not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Free Illustrated Vintage Poem: The Lights of Home by Helen Marion Burnside

THE LIGHTS OF HOME
by HELEN MARION BURNSIDE

When shades of night are falling
And on the winding road,
With footsteps slow and weary,
The home-bound toilers plod.
How heart and feet grow lighter,
When through the mist and gloom,
With cheery ray across the way,
Shine out the lights of home!
O hallowed, homely beacon,
Where'er our steps may roam,
Shine out and guide, from far and wide,
The wanderers safely home!

When life's brief day is closing,
Its toils and sorrows past,
And when for peaceful slumber
We fold our hands at last,
How softly to our vision,
How sweetly through the gloom,
From mansions fair that wait us there
Will shine the Lights of Home!
O heavenly, homely beacon,
Where'er our feet may roam,
Shine out and guide, from far and wide,
The wanderers safely Home!

Poem originally published August 14, 1897. You can download this poem as a high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG (without a watermark) for card making, collage, junk journal or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.