Poem by Madison Julius Cawein

Insomnia

It seems that dawn will never climb
The eastern hills;
And, clad in mist and flame and rime,
Make flashing highways of the rills.

The night is as an ancient way
Through some dead land,
Whereon the ghosts of Memory
And Sorrow wander hand in hand.

By which man's works ignoble seem,
Unbeautiful;
And grandeur, but the ruined dream
Of some proud queen, crowned with a skull.

A way past-peopled, dark and old,
That stretches far
Its only real thing, the cold
Vague light of sleep's one fitful star.

1. Night and Rain
2. The Toad
3. The Town Witch
4. Above the Vales
5. At the Stile

Elizabeth Bishop Insomnia ("The moon in the bureau mirror")

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