RIANTS:

[1] 1837.

Festively she puts forth in trim array;
As vigorous as a Lark at break of day: 1807.

TO SLEEP

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

Placed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

O gentle sleep! do they belong to thee,
These twinklings of oblivion? Thou dost love
To sit in meekness, like the brooding Dove,
A captive never wishing to be free.
This tiresome night, O Sleep! thou art to me 5
A Fly, that up and down himself doth shove
Upon a fretful rivulet, now above
Now on the water vexed with mockery.
I have no pain that calls for patience, no;[A]
Hence am I[1] cross and peevish as a child: 10
Am[2] pleased by fits to have thee for my foe,
Yet ever willing to be reconciled:
O gentle Creature! do not use me so,
But once and deeply let me be beguiled.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1807.

... I am ... 1815.

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1807.

[2] 1807.

And ... 1815.

The text of 1827 returns to that of 1807.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare--"Et c'est encore ce qui me fache, de n'etre pas meme en
droit de ... facher."--Rousseau, _La Nouvelle Heloise_.

"Vixque tenet lacrymas; quia nil lacrymabile cernit."

Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, lib. ii. l. 796.--ED.

TO SLEEP

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Fond words have oft been spoken to thee, Sleep!
And thou hast had thy store of tenderest names;
The very sweetest, Fancy culls or frames,[1]
When thankfulness of heart is strong and deep!
Dear Bosom-child we call thee, that dost steep 5
In rich reward all suffering; Balm that tames
All anguish; Saint that evil thoughts and aims
Takest away, and into souls dost creep,
Like to a breeze from heaven. Shall I alone,
I surely not a man ungently made, 10
Call thee worst Tyrant by which Flesh is crost?
Perverse, self-willed to own and to disown,
Mere slave of them who never for thee prayed,
Still last to come where thou art wanted most!

VARIANTS:

[1] 1837.

The very sweetest words that fancy frames 1807.

TO SLEEP

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

Classed among the "Miscellaneous