Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
…Sailed off in a wooden shoe,—
Sailed on a river of crystal light
…Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
…The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring-fish
…That live in this beautiful sea;
…Nets of silver and gold have we,”
…….Said Wynken,
…….Blynken,
…….And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song,
…As they rocked in the wooden shoe;
And the wind that sped them all night long
…Ruffled the waves of dew;
The little stars were the herring-fish
…That lived in the beautiful sea.
“Now cast your nets wherever you wish,—
…Never afraid are we!”
…So cried the stars to the fishermen three,
…….Wynken,
…….Blynken,
…….And Nod.
All night long their nets they threw
…To the stars in the twinkling foam,—
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
…Bringing the fishermen home:
‘Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed
…As if it could not be;
And some folk thought ‘twas a dream they’d dreamed
…Of sailing that beautiful sea;
…But I shall name you the fishermen three:
…….Wynken,
…….Blynken,
…….And Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
…And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
…Is a wee one’s trundle-bed;
So shut your eyes while Mother sings
…Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
…As you rock in the misty sea
…Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:—
…….Wynken,
…….Blynken,
…….And Nod.
The Bard on the Hill 
For three generations, my family had homes in a Florida Keys oceanfront manufactured housing community called Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. As a young child, I never knew where the name came from, until I eventually discovered this poem. Its streets were called things like Thumper Thoroughfare, Little Miss Muffet Lane, Bo Peep Boulevard, and Humpty Dumpty Drive. To have a community named for such a whimsical world… awesome.
That would be an interesting neighborhood. 🙂 Thanks for sharing that.