The Secret

"How an anonymous poem in my mother's Ontario Grade One Reader became a lullaby and a painting."

Katie Kidwell

1 min read

A painting of 4 robin eggs in a bird's nest on a tree branch
A painting of 4 robin eggs in a bird's nest on a tree branch
The Story

This poem "The Secret" was in my mother's Grade One Ontario Reader. It was one of her favourite's. If you know who wrote it let me know. I took the liberty of writing a lullaby for it many years ago.

For my 2017 Parkside Show "The Little Birds that Fly" I artistically arranged the poem on special paper in a special frame along with this painting, "The Cradle."

The Poem

A SECRET
(from the Ontario Readers First Book)

I know of a cradle, so wee and so blue,
Where a baby is sleeping this morning, -- do you?
I think he is dreaming the dearest of things --
Of songs and of sunshine, of tiny brown wings.

I’ll tell you a secret, -- don’t tell where you heard, --
The cradle’s an egg, -- and the baby’s a bird!

Author Unknown

The Song

Listen to this song on SoundCloud

Music & Performance ©K. Kidwell, 2002, SOCAN

The Cradle, w.c. on Yuppo