My bed is a boat | My bed is like a little boat

My bed is like a little boat

Language: English

Our translations: ITA

My bed is like a little boat;
Nurse helps me in when I embark;
She girds me in my sailor's coat
And starts me in the dark.

At night, I go on board and say
Good night to all my friends on shore;
I shut my eyes and sail away
And see and hear no more.

And sometimes things to bed I take,
As prudent sailors have to do:
Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake,
Perhaps a toy or two.

All night across the dark we steer:
But when the day returns at last,
Safe in my room, beside the pier,
I find my vessel fast.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My bed is a boat", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Harry Brook (1893 - ?), "My bed is a boat", published 1930 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Antonio Giacometti (b. 1957), "My bed is a boat", 2005 [ baritone and piano ], from Seven Stevenson Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by William Wallace Gilchrist (1846 - 1916), "My bed is a boat", published 1897 [ voice and piano ], from The Stevenson Song-Book [sung text not yet checked]
by Cecilia (Cissie) Loftus , "My bed is like a little boat", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "My bed is a boat", published 1910 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Marvin Radnor , "My bed is a boat", published 1923 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Teresa del Riego (c1876 - 1968), "My bed is a boat", published 1909 [ voice and piano ], from Children's pictures [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "My bed is a boat", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from The Twins' Tune Book, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Percy Purvis Turnbull (b. 1902), "My bed is a boat", published c1925 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (1931 - 2003), "My bed is a boat", published 1968 [ high voice and piano ], from From a child's garden, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 105