Part 7 (1/2)

III

Sing to us, cedars; your voice is so lowly, Your breathing so fragrant, your branches so strong; Our little nest-cradles are swaying so slowly, While zephyrs are breathing their slumberous song.

And we swing, swing, While your branches sing, And we drowse to your dreamy whispering.

OVERLOOKED

Sleep, with her tender balm, her touch so kind, Has pa.s.sed me by; Afar I see her vesture, velvet-lined, Float silently; O! Sleep, my tired eyes had need of thee!

Is thy sweet kiss not meant to-night for me?

Peace, with the blessings that I longed for so, Has pa.s.sed me by; Where'er she folds her holy wings I know All tempests die; O! Peace, my tired soul had need of thee!

Is thy sweet kiss denied alone to me?

Love, with her heated touches, pa.s.sion-stirred, Has pa.s.sed me by.

I called, ”O stay thy flight,” but all unheard My lonely cry: O! Love, my tired heart had need of thee!

Is thy sweet kiss withheld alone from me?

Sleep, sister-twin of Peace, my waking eyes So weary grow!

O! Love, thou wanderer from Paradise, Dost thou not know How oft my lonely heart has cried to thee?

But Thou, and Sleep, and Peace, come not to me.

FASTING

'Tis morning now, yet silently I stand, Uplift the curtain with a weary hand, Look out while darkness overspreads the way, And long for day.

Calm peace is frighted with my mood to-night, Nor visits my dull chamber with her light, To guide my senses into her sweet rest And leave me blest.

Long hours since the city rocked and sung Itself to slumber: only the stars swung Aloft their torches in the midnight skies With watchful eyes.

No sound awakes; I, even, breathe no sigh, Nor hear a single footstep pa.s.sing by; Yet I am not alone, for now I feel A presence steal

Within my chamber walls; I turn to see The sweetest guest that courts humanity; With subtle, slow enchantment draws she near, And Sleep is here.

What care I for the olive branch of Peace?

Kind Sleep will bring a thrice-distilled release, Nepenthes, that alone her mystic hand Can understand.

And so she bends, this welcome sorceress, To crown my fasting with her light caress.

Ah, sure my pain will vanish at the bliss Of her warm kiss.

But still my duty lies in self-denial; I must refuse sweet Sleep, although the trial Will reawaken all my depth of pain.

So once again