His shoes are silken, mother says,

And mother tells the truth, always!

He glides across the sunset hill,

To seek each little child, like me:

Our all-day-tired eyes to fill

With sands of sleep, from slumber’s sea.

I try my best awake to stay,

But I am tired out with play;

“I’ll never see him!” mother says,

And mother tells the truth—always!