New Zealand Verse/The Hosts of Sleep
CXLV.
The Hosts of Sleep.
Out of a gold and purple dreamland streaming,
The dark-eyed troops of sleep come swift and silent,
Fling from their thin hands drowsy influences,
Marching to take
The battled burg of Freewill.
The dark-eyed troops of sleep come swift and silent,
Fling from their thin hands drowsy influences,
Marching to take
The battled burg of Freewill.
The unleashed thoughts run gamesome in the country,
Each racing other, playing, singing, dancing;
Some feebly tilling tangled plots of woodland,
Dark, remote,
Far out from the city.
Each racing other, playing, singing, dancing;
Some feebly tilling tangled plots of woodland,
Dark, remote,
Far out from the city.
Some work so hard, and others play so madly,
They do not hear the rustle and the whisper
Of the dark forces thronging out of dreamland,
Silent, swift,
Breathing scouts before them.
They do not hear the rustle and the whisper
Of the dark forces thronging out of dreamland,
Silent, swift,
Breathing scouts before them.
Some are taken, flooded by the vast wave—
Half-thought thoughts, forgotten in the morning,
Workers or players, singers blythe and dancers,
Prone, cold,
Motionless for ever.
Half-thought thoughts, forgotten in the morning,
Workers or players, singers blythe and dancers,
Prone, cold,
Motionless for ever.
Some catch a distant warning of the army,
And flee swiftly, scurry to the city;
Safe till to-morrow, safe within the ramparts;
Loud, shrill,
The clarions bawl the warning.
And flee swiftly, scurry to the city;
Safe till to-morrow, safe within the ramparts;
Loud, shrill,
The clarions bawl the warning.
The gates are closed, Freewill stands erect, firm;
Back to the dimly-wooded far horizon
Ebb the dark masses, melting into distance;
Back, back,
Streams the host of darkness.
Back to the dimly-wooded far horizon
Ebb the dark masses, melting into distance;
Back, back,
Streams the host of darkness.
The sentries doze, careless run the young thoughts,
Out again, out, to the empty country,
Panting in their play, in their mazy dances,
Light, free,
Far from sleep and silence.
Out again, out, to the empty country,
Panting in their play, in their mazy dances,
Light, free,
Far from sleep and silence.
Full five times the great host streams up silent,
Laps up the young thoughts, buries them in darkness;
But the alarm twists upward from the fortress,
Lank, shrill,
Before they reach the ramparts.
Laps up the young thoughts, buries them in darkness;
But the alarm twists upward from the fortress,
Lank, shrill,
Before they reach the ramparts.
Then all the sentries, weary with long watching,
Hug the propt spear, blink and nod and murmur,
And the last thought, swiftly racing homeward,
Trips, falls,
Close beside the drawbridge.
Hug the propt spear, blink and nod and murmur,
And the last thought, swiftly racing homeward,
Trips, falls,
Close beside the drawbridge.
Silently and grimly stalk the troops of dreamland;
There is no alarm; they swarm upon the high walls,
Take the hushed city, brood upon it darkly,
Down, down,
Sinks the flag of Freewill.
There is no alarm; they swarm upon the high walls,
Take the hushed city, brood upon it darkly,
Down, down,
Sinks the flag of Freewill.
They hang, like crape before the face of mourners,
Blurring, dimming the features of the city,
The burghers, kingless, they lead in dance fantastic,
Sleep, armed sleep,
Holds the walls till morning.
Blurring, dimming the features of the city,
The burghers, kingless, they lead in dance fantastic,
Sleep, armed sleep,
Holds the walls till morning.