SOME OF THE POETRY OF SLUMBER
COLLECTED BY
LEOLYN LOUISE EVERETT
NEW YORK
THE WATKINS COMPANY
1910
Three hundred and twenty copies of this book have been printed on hand-made Van Gelder paper, for The Watkins Company, at the press of Styles & Cash New York, and type distributed.
This book is No.
To
ETHEL DU FRE HOUSTON
who has brought the joy and beauty of dream into so many lives
SLEEP-BOOK
I.
Peace, peace, thou over-anxious,
foolish heart,
Rest, ever-seeking soul, calm,
mad desires,
Quiet, wild dreams—this
is the time of sleep.
Hold her more close than life
itself. Forget
All the excitements of the
day, forget
All problems and discomforts.
Let the night
Take you unto herself, her
blessed self.
Peace, peace, thou over-anxious,
foolish heart,
Rest, ever-seeking soul, calm,
mad desires,
Quiet, wild dreams—this
is the time of sleep.
Leolyn Louise Everett.
II.
Sleep, softly-breathing god!
his downy wing
Was fluttering now.
Samuel T. Coleridge.
I lay in slumber’s shadowy vale
Samuel T. Coleridge.
III.
And more to lulle him in his
slumber soft,
A trickling stream from high
rock tumbling down
And ever-drizzling raine upon
the loft,
Mixt with a murmuring winde,
much like the sowne
Of swarming Bees, did cast
him in a swowne.
No other noyse, nor peoples
troublous cryes,
As still are wont t’annoy
the walled towne,
Might there be heard; but
carelesse Quiet lyes
Wrapt in eternal! silence
farre from enimyes.
Edmund Spenser.
IV.
The waters murmuring, With such cohort as they keep Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep. Il Penseroso.
John Milton.
V.
Ye spotted snakes with double
tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be
not seen;
Newts and blind-worms do no
wrong,
Come not near our fairy
queen.
Philomel, with
melody
Sing in our sweet
lullaby,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla,
lulla, lullaby;
Never harm.
Nor spell nor
charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh
So goodnight with lullaby.
William Shakespeare.
VI.
Sleep, Silence child, sweet
father of soft rest,
Prince, whose approach peace
to all mortals brings,
Indifferent host to shepherds
and to kings,
Sole comforter of minds with
grief oppressed;
Lo, by thy charming rod all
breathing things
Lie slumbering, with forgetfulness
possessed.