TO SLEEP

[ZaunköniG]

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.




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