title: On my little Catherine sleeping
author: Henry Livingston Jr.
date: 1775
source: letter from Henry Livingston to his wife Sarah, 9 Sep 1775 (Illinois State Archives, Breese Papers); poem headed "On my little Catherine sleeping"; site transcription. URL: https://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/cathsleep.htm (fetched via https://web.archive.org/web/20250522014039/https://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/cathsleep.htm)
form: iambic tetrameter
lines: 22
attribution: certain
notes: Serious/tender. Written at a tavern while on the way to join his regiment (Aug-Sep 1775), for his week-old daughter Catharine; sent in the letter to his wife. Site query "[Bade??]" on the word "Bode" removed from body. W. S. Thomas (DCHS Year Book 1919) independently prints the 1775 letter context. Site heading/headnote: Waiting at the Tavern a few minutes for Cortlandt I scribbled the following lines You see wife how I reckon on your partiallity! | On my little Catherine sleeping

Sweet Innocent lye still & sleep,
While chearfull seraphs vigils keep,
To ward off ev'ry shaft of death
That may be wing'd to seize thy breath.

Dear Infant how serene you lay,
Nor heed the bustle of the day!
Thy little bosom knows no care,
For guilt neer lay & wrankled there;
In thee all troubles die & cease,
And all is quiet all is peace.

How much unlike thy Father's life
Amid the Din of Arms & strife!
The tumult and the noise of war
Forever thundring in his ear.

Thy mother too has shed her tears
Has heav'd her sigh & known her fears.
Her lips hath not forgot to press
The bitter cup of keen distress.

And Thou sweet Bode will soon perceive
That to be mortal is to greive;
That as the spark will upward fly,
So man still lives to mourn & dye.