This is a land of sleepiness, of stark Unyielding silence, undisturbed and thick. Defiantly the crowded stars go dark And earth is left with this one slender wick Of moon. The trees are shapeless blots of gray, Unresting motion in the voiceless night, As wearily the cycle of the day Creeps through the darkness, out of sound and sight. The rattlesnake, coiled in his nest of rocks, Sleeps through the stillness, and the slow, Uneasy stretching of a shadow clocks The turning of the hours. Yet I know That bitter strength lies well-concealed and deep, Beneath this mask of quietness and sleep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAN WITH THE HOE by EDWIN MARKHAM CALLER HERRIN' by CAROLINA OLIPHANT NAIRNE MY BED IS A BOAT by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE TWO FLAMES by ELOISE BRITON MARCH by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |