Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Asleep

"Come closer," she said, "my sister,
   For I can not see your face.
The day grows dim, and the shadows grim,
   Are gathering on apace.
I am glad that the night is coming:
   I am weary, and want to rest.
What! do you weep, that I fall asleep
   Leaning upon your breast?

"Oh, Sister, I am so tired:
   How tired you can not know.
And a jarring pain, in my weary brain,
   Beats like a cruel blow.
I think it will all have vanished,
   After I sleep awhile.
How sweetly I rest, lying here on your breast.
   In the warmth of your loving smile.

"Such a beautiful dream, my sister,
   I dreamed while I slept last night.
I thought he was true: and he came with you,
   And kissed me in love's delight.
And he said--But I am so weary,
   I will sleep ere I tell the rest."
But the sister wept, for the maiden slept
   In the sleep of death, on her breast. 

1. The Birth of the Orchid
2. The Black Charger
3. All the World
4. At Set of Sun
5. The Call (All wantonly in hours of joy)

Albert Laighton Asleep ("Half veiled by the delaying twilight, lies")

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