Persian lullabies for babies: the traditional lyrics, with meaning

The best-known Persian lullaby begins lālā lālā gol-e puneh (لالالا گل پونه): a hushing refrain, then the name of a flower, then a line that rhymes with it. It is anonymous folk verse, sung in a different version in almost every family, and the lines below are the ones we found in at least three independent collections. Nobody knows who first sang these; what matters is that your baby hears them in your voice. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

What a Persian lullaby is

A Persian lullaby (lālāyi, لالایی) is a short folk song a mother or grandmother improvises at the cradle. Researchers at Shiraz University describe lullabies as among the oldest surviving Persian folk songs, whose first singers are unknown, and note that they did two things at once: soothe the child, and let the mother say what she could not say to anyone else. Studies in the journal Culture and Folk Literature make the same point: the words carry the mother's hopes and fears as much as the child's sleep.

The form is simple enough to make up on the spot. Each couplet opens with lālā lālā (or lālālā, lālālālā, depending on the rhythm), then gol-e plus the name of a flower or herb, and the second line rhymes with that name. Because the rhyme drives the words, the same lullaby means slightly different things from one town to the next: in Kerman a beggar comes to the door, in Shiraz it is a brother rather than the father who has gone away. Collections printed in Iran since the 1980s, and a British officer's article of 1906 with Persian texts and English translations, all show this variation; none of them names an author, because there is none.

Lala lala gol-e puneh, line by line

These are the lines that appear, with small differences, in every collection we opened. Sing them in any order; families do.

Persian	Say it like	Meaning
لالالا گل پونه بابات رفته در خونه	lālālā gol-e puneh bābāt rafte dar-e khuneh	Hush, my pennyroyal flower, your father has gone to the door of the house.
لالالالا گلم باشی همیشه در برم باشی	lālālālā golam bāshi hamisheh dar baram bāshi	Hush, be my flower, always be here beside me.
لالالالا گل خشخاش بابات رفته خدا همراش	lālālālā gol-e khashkhāsh bābāt rafte khodā hamrāsh	Hush, my poppy flower, your father has gone away, God go with him.
لالالالا گل زیره چرا خوابت نمی‌گیره	lālālālā gol-e zireh cherā khābet nemigireh	Hush, my cumin flower, why won't sleep come to you?

Each flower is there for the rhyme, not for its meaning: puneh (pennyroyal) rhymes with khuneh (house), khashkhāsh (poppy) with hamrāsh (with him), zireh (cumin) with nemigireh (does not take). Once you hear that, you can add your own couplets; grandmothers always have.

Regional versions you may remember

Kerman. The Kermani text printed in several collections opens the same way (لالالا گل پونه) but a beggar comes to the door: گدا اومد در خونه, "a beggar came to the door". Give him one bread and he is unhappy, give him two and he is pleased; he leaves and his dog arrives. It ends with the mother's line بخواب ای نازنین من، مامان قربون تو میره, "sleep, my darling, Mama adores you".
Shiraz. The poppy couplet changes one word: لالالالا گل خشخاش، کاکا رفته خدا همراش. Here it is kākā, not the father, who has gone away; ask a Shirazi relative who they mean by it in your family.
Tehran. The Tehrani lullaby opens لالالالا گلم بودی، عزیز و مونسم بودی, "hush, you were my flower, my dear one and my companion". Several old lullabies, this one included, also address lulu (لولو), the bogeyman behind the wall, and tell him to go away. Some families keep those lines because the rhythm is lovely; others skip them for a small child. Both choices are traditional.

One more song is often called a lullaby abroad: Gonjeshkak-e ashi mashi, the little sparrow told not to sit on the roof edge. We found it in two sources, including a family recording in the USC folklore archive, which is below our three-source bar, so we have not printed its text here.

Singing one to a baby who lives abroad

Pick one couplet and repeat it. A newborn does not need the whole song. The lālā lālā refrain and one flower are enough; add lines as the months go by.
Use your own family's version. If your mother sang gedā umad dar-e khuneh, sing that. There is no correct text, and the version your child will one day sing is the one they heard from you.
Let the grandparents sing it too. On a video call, or in a recording the baby can hear every night. A lullaby in a grandmother's voice does more for the language than any recording of a stranger. On Azizan, a grandparent reads a Persian story on video, page by page; a lullaby at the end of a recording is a natural way to close. See how grandparents abroad record bedtime stories.
Pair it with the bedtime words. Shab bekheir, khāb-e khosh bebini: the short phrases on our Persian bedtime phrases page make the lullaby part of a routine.

Related guides

Questions

What is the most famous Persian lullaby?

Lala lala gol-e puneh (لالالا گل پونه). It is anonymous folk verse with many regional versions; the poppy couplet, lala lala gol-e khashkhash, babat rafte khoda hamrash, appears in nearly every collection.

What does lala lala mean in Persian?

It is the hushing sound of Persian lullabies, like 'hush-a-bye' in English, and the word lalayi (lullaby) comes from it. Lala in everyday speech also means 'sleep' to a small child: lala kon, go to sleep.

What does gol-e puneh mean?

Puneh is pennyroyal, a wild mint, so gol-e puneh is 'pennyroyal flower'. The flower is chosen for the rhyme with khuneh (house), not for its meaning; other couplets use poppy (khashkhash), cumin (zireh) and many more.

Are Persian lullabies in the public domain?

The traditional texts are anonymous folk verse, passed down orally and printed in collections in Iran since the 1980s and by a British officer in 1906, so the words themselves belong to everyone. Modern recorded songs and new lullabies by named poets are copyrighted; this page prints only the traditional lines.

Why do Persian lullabies sound sad?

Researchers at Shiraz University and in the journal Culture and Folk Literature describe lullabies as a place where mothers voiced their own hardships, such as a husband away or in trouble, to a listener who could not repeat them. The melody soothes the child; the words were often for the mother.

Who is lulu in Persian lullabies?

Lulu (لولو) is the bogeyman of Persian childhood, said to wait behind the wall. Several traditional lullabies tell him to go away because the child's father is home. Many families today skip those lines; both ways are traditional.

Does Azizan have lullabies?

Azizan has illustrated Persian stories that relatives read aloud on video; it does not have a lullaby library or any synthetic singing. A grandparent can sing one at the end of a recording, in their own voice, which is the point.

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Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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