Sleep + 

Oh! is it Death that comes + 

To have a foretaste of the whole? + 

To-night the planets and the stars + 

Will glimmer through my window-bars + 

But will not shine upon my soul! + 

For I shall lie as dead + 

Though yet I am above the ground; + 

All passionless, with scarce a breath, + 

With hands of rest and eyes of death, + 

I shall be carried swiftly round. + 

Or if my life should break + 

The idle night with doubtful gleams, + 

Through mossy arches will I go, + 

Through arches ruinous and low, + 

And chase the true and false in dreams. + 

Why should I fall asleep? + 

When I am still upon my bed + 

The moon will shine, the winds will rise + 

And all around and through the skies + 

The light clouds travel o’er my head! + 

O busy, busy things, + 

Ye mock me with your ceaseless life! + 

For all the hidden springs will flow + 

And all the blades of grass will grow + 

When I have neither peace nor strife. + 

And all the long night through + 

The restless streams will hurry by; + 

And round the lands, with endless roar, + 

The white waves fall upon the shore, + 

And bit by bit devour the dry. + 

Even thus, but silently, + 

Eternity, thy tide shall flow, + 

And side by side with every star + 

Thy long-drawn swell shall bear me far, + 

An idle boat with none to row. + 

My senses fail with sleep; + 

My heart beats thick; the night is noon; + 

And faintly through its misty folds + 

I hear a drowsy clock that holds + 

Its converse with the waning moon. + 

Oh, solemn mystery + 

That I should be so closely bound + 

With neither terror nor constraint, + 

Without a murmur of complaint, + 

And lose myself upon such ground! + 