"Sleep"

Sleep

O Sleep, sweet Sleep―lean downward unto me,

            And lay thy cool touch on my fevered cheek.

            Lay all thy fair length close to me, and speak

Thy language, soft and drowsy as the sea

That steals up tide-lands slow and lullingly.

            O Sleep, kind Sleep―lean down and press thy lips

            On my tired eyes; let thy cool finger-tips

Still my hot temple’s throb,―ay, let me be

Cradled within thy arms. . . . And bid me think

            Of clovered banks where long, still shadows creep;

            Of lotus blossoms lolling on a stream;

Of tinkling brooks where thirsty cattle drink;

            Of drowsy poppy-fields. . . . And bid me dream

            Of him I love, O Sleep, O gentle Sleep!

"Sleep" as it appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

A draft of "Sleep" on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.