Invocation to Sleep

Draw the curtains round your bed,
And I 'll shade the wakeful light;
'T will be hard for you to sleep,
If you have me still in sight: —
But you must though, and without me,
For I have a song to write:
Then sleep, love, sleep!
The flowers have gone to rest,
And the birds are in the nest:
'T is time for you to join them beneath the wings of Sleep!
Wave thy poppies round her, Sleep!
Touch her eye-lids, flood her brain;
Banish Memory, Thought, and Strife,
Bar the portals of her life,
Till the morning comes again!
Let no enemy intrude
On her helpless solitude:
Fear and Pain, and all their train —
Keep the evil hounds at bay,
And all evil dreams away!
Thou, thyself, keep thou the key,
Or intrust it unto me,
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
A lover's eyes are bright
In the darkest night;
And jealous even of dreams, almost of thee, dear
Sleep!
I must sit, and think, and think,
Till the stars begin to wink:
(For the web of Song is wrought
Only in the looms of Thought !)
She must lie, and sleep, and sleep,
(Be her slumbers calm and deep !)
Till the dews of morning weep;
Therefore bind your sweetest sprite
To her service and delight,
All the night,
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
And I 'll whisper in her ear,
(Even in dreams it will be dear !)
What she loveth so to hear,
Tiding sweeter than the flowers,
All about this love of ours,
And its rare increase:
Singing in the starry peace,
Ditties delicate, and free,
Dedicate to her, and thee,
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
For I owe ye both a boon,
And I mean to grant it soon,
In my golden numbers that breathe of Love and
Sleep!