[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Wakefulness

John L. Stoddard

Drifting, idly drifting, where thought’s varied streams
Meet at last and mingle in the realm of dreams,
Gladly would I join them in oblivion’s deep!
      Sleep, so dear to me,
      Sleep, come near to me,
      Sleep, sweet sleep!

Toward the night’s Nirvana groping for the way,
Striving, ever striving to forget the day,
Waves of dreamless slumber, o’er my spirit creep!
      Sleep, so dear to me,
      Sleep, come near to me,
      Sleep, sweet sleep!

By the stream of Lethe, fettered to the brink,
Longing for the breaking of the last, frail link,
Eager for its billows o’er my mind to sweep,
      Sleep, so dear to me,
      Sleep, come near to me,
      Sleep, sweet sleep!

Waiting, ever waiting for thy soothing call,
And the welcome darkness that envelops all,
If no more to waken, then no more to weep,
      Sleep, so dear to me,
      Sleep, come near to me,
      Sleep, sweet sleep!
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Poems | 1913
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.