Christopher Morley

Two O'Clock

Night after night goes by: and clocks still chime
    And stars are changing pattrns in the dark 
And watches tick, and over-puissant Time
    Benumbs the eager brain. The dogs that bark, 
The trains that roar and rattle in the night,
    The very cats that prowl, all quiet find 
And leave the darkness empty, silent quite:
    Sleep comes to chloroform the fretting mind.

So all things end: and what is left at last?
    Some scribbled sonnets tossed upon the floor, 
A memory of easy days gone past,
    A run-down watch, a pipe, some clothes we wore-- 
And in the darkened room I lean to know
    How her dreamless breath doth pause and flow.