(From a sonnet-sequence) Somewhile before the dawn I rose, and stept Softly along the dim way to your room, And found you sleeping in the quiet gloom, And holiness about you as you slept. I knelt there; till your waking fingers crept About my head, and held it. I had rest Unhoped this side of Heaven, beneath your breast. I knelt a long time, still; nor even wept. It was great wrong you did me; and for gain Of that poor moment's kindliness, and ease, And sleepy mother-comfort! Child, you know How easily love leaps out to dreams like these, Who has seen them true. And love that's wakened so Takes all too long to lay asleep again. Waikiki, October 1913 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VIRTUE [OR, VERTUE] by GEORGE HERBERT DOT LONG-HANDLED DIPPER by CHARLES FOLLEN ADAMS WITH A COPY OF CALVERLEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS JUDGES: SONG OF DEBORAH; FRAGMENTS by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ASOLANDO: FLUTE-MUSIC, WITH AN ACCOMPANIMENT by ROBERT BROWNING SONNET TO - -. by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |