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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AMORIS EXSUL: 10. SLEEPLESS NIGHT by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS

Poet Analysis

First Line: I CANNOT SLEEP, THE SLOW HOURS STEAL
Last Line: THE RADIANT MALICE OF HER EYES.
Subject(s): INSOMNIA; SLEEPLESSNESS;

I cannot sleep, the slow hours steal
Lingering on a path of sighs;
All night against my sight I feel
The presence of her lips, her eyes.

Out of the empty night appear
All I have loved and feared and fled:
Those eyes that I most love and fear,
Those lips I most desire and dread.

Her eyes are strange to me, they smile
An older alien smile, not mine;
Her lips are laughing to beguile
My senses with a sorcerous wine.

Deep in the darkness of the night
She wavers to a fresh disguise;
Yet still there burns against my sight
The radiant malice of her eyes.



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