Navajo Lullaby

by Solveig Paulson Russell

Hush, little Navajo,

Close your bright eyes

Now the good sun

Has slipped from blue skies;

Dark shadows gather

On sagebrush and pine,

And squash blossoms fold

On the drowsy gray vine.

Far on the mesa

The wild ponies sleep,

And tired rabbits rest

Where canyons are deep.

Now, little Navajo,

Close your bright eyes.

Stars soon will hear

The coyote’s thin cries.

Still is your hogan—

No wind stirs the sand.

Rest time has come

To Navajo Land.

Illustrated by Ron Crosby