Page:Parerga.djvu/58
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
48
PRAYER TO SLEEP.
As oft Aurora, crimsoning the sky,
Hath pour'd o'er my hot brow and fever'd eye
All the chill freshness of her morning air,
Touch'd by my sad and sleep-imploring prayer;
Yet slumber comes not! How shall I sustain
This ceaseless weight of unreposing pain?———
Perhaps even now some lover, deeply blest,
Is folding the Beloved one to his breast,
And strives Love's vigil through the night to keep,
Shunning thy soft advances, gentle Sleep.
Oh, come from him, who loves thee not, to me!———
I dare not, Mighty Power, demand of thee
On full-spread pinions hovering o'er my bed
O'er these sad eyes thy choicest balm to shed:
Others, more fortunate, may pray for this—
I only crave the faintest touch of bliss
From thy suspended wand.———Pass lightly o'er,
But come, oh come, sweet Sleep!—I ask no more.
Hath pour'd o'er my hot brow and fever'd eye
All the chill freshness of her morning air,
Touch'd by my sad and sleep-imploring prayer;
Yet slumber comes not! How shall I sustain
This ceaseless weight of unreposing pain?———
Perhaps even now some lover, deeply blest,
Is folding the Beloved one to his breast,
And strives Love's vigil through the night to keep,
Shunning thy soft advances, gentle Sleep.
Oh, come from him, who loves thee not, to me!———
I dare not, Mighty Power, demand of thee
On full-spread pinions hovering o'er my bed
O'er these sad eyes thy choicest balm to shed:
Others, more fortunate, may pray for this—
I only crave the faintest touch of bliss
From thy suspended wand.———Pass lightly o'er,
But come, oh come, sweet Sleep!—I ask no more.