For Insomnia.
When Somnus is giddy and flies from my pillow,
And care’s elfin throngs come to vex me—
When mem’ry, perverse, all the sweet things forgetting,
Will mention but those that perplex me,
I ask that monotony’s rigid insistence
Shall drive out the gibberous crew;
They flee from his presence—will hie back to elfland,
Where their Night shade and astrofell grew—
Ask thought for a theme that’s subduing in power—
The sea, with its billows all hushed to a calm—
Not mantled with darkness, but lit with the sunset,
When Day, unto Evening, is chanting her psalm.
All life’s petty griefs in the grandeur evanish,
The spirit is freed from its thrall,
And unto the faint heart a trustfulnesss whispers,
“Be brave—there’s a God over all.”
* * * * *
In fancy I launch on the shimmering sea
That’s lighting with glory its waters for me;
Like a sprite of the ocean the boat seems to glide,
As lightly the oars dip the opaline tide,
Till out in expanses, afar from the shore,
Away from life’s din and tumultuous roar
Where, gently I’m rocked on the breast of the deep,
While symphonic waves woo the Lethe of Sleep.
A broad, shining pathway is westward unrolled—
I watch the bright wavelets, with tresses of gold,
Run out in wild play to the visual rim
Where the sky bends to kiss them in distance so dim,
Till thought is enchanted—anxiety flees,
And weariness slips into somnolent ease;
The silences seem to have rhythmical beat—
’Tis footfalls of wakefulness, now in retreat.
Forgetfulness softly creeps into the mind,
Suspecting no trace of resistance to find,
But wakefulness turns back, commands and forbids—
Yet, Slumber steals past her and touches the lids;
Then Morpheus bears me away in his arms
To his realm that’s swept of all fears and alarms
Where, lulled with his stupors, of poppy and rose,
I dreamily, dreamily sink to repose.