18.04.2022, 00:32
TO SLEEP:
AFTER A NIGHT'S INCARCERATION IN PRISON.
THOU art no fawning sycophant, sweet Sleep !
That turn'st away if Fortune rudely frown,
Leaving the stricken one alone to weep,
And mourn his former opulent renown:
O, no ! but here even to this desolate place
Thou com'st as 't were a palace trimm'd with gold ;
Its architecture of Corinthian grace ;
Its gorgeous pageants dazzling to behold :
No prison walls nor bolts can thee affright
Where dwelleth Innocence, there thou art found !
How pleasant, how sincere wast thou last night !
What .blissful dreams my morning slumber crowned !
Health-giving Sleep ! than mine a nobler verse
Must to the world thy matchless worth rehearse.
.
AFTER A NIGHT'S INCARCERATION IN PRISON.
THOU art no fawning sycophant, sweet Sleep !
That turn'st away if Fortune rudely frown,
Leaving the stricken one alone to weep,
And mourn his former opulent renown:
O, no ! but here even to this desolate place
Thou com'st as 't were a palace trimm'd with gold ;
Its architecture of Corinthian grace ;
Its gorgeous pageants dazzling to behold :
No prison walls nor bolts can thee affright
Where dwelleth Innocence, there thou art found !
How pleasant, how sincere wast thou last night !
What .blissful dreams my morning slumber crowned !
Health-giving Sleep ! than mine a nobler verse
Must to the world thy matchless worth rehearse.
.