Thank God for sleep! And, when you cannot sleep, Still thank Him that you live To lie awake. And pray Him, of His grace, When He sees fit, sweet sleep to give, That you may rise, with new-born eyes, To look once more into His shining face. In sleep, -- limbs all loose-laxed and slipt the chains -- We draw sweet-close to Him from whom our breath Has life. In His sole hands we leave the reins, In fullest faith trust Him for life or death. This sleep in life close kinsman is to death; And, as from sleep we wake to greet the day, So, too, from death we shall with joy awake To greet the glories of the Great Essay. To His belov'd new life in sleep He gives, And, unto all, awakening from sleep. Each day is resurrection, -- a new birth To nearer heaven and re-created earth, -- To all Life's possibilities -- of good Or ill, -- with joys and woes endued, -- Till that last, shortest sleep of all, And that first great awakening from Life's thrall. Thank God for sleep! And, when you cannot sleep, Still thank Him for the grace That lets you live To feel the comfort of His soft embrace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: YEE BOW by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE DELICACIES by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS BETRAYAL by HESTER H. CHOLMONDELEY THE CHILDREN'S HOUR by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ISAAC AND ARCHIBALD by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |