SLEEP by JOHN COWPER POWYS

The city sleeps; the fierce metallic roar
Ebbs like a broken wave;
A wave drawn back to the silent ocean-floor.
The city sleeps; and the sleeper, what dreams she?
She dreams
Of tiny grasses, lifted and dropped and lifted,
As the wind goes over the hill;
Of feathery reed-tops, rising and falling and rising,
As the mill-stream turns the mill.

The city sleeps; and the dreamer, what dreams he?
He dreams
Of tender fern-fronds drooping o'er mosses cool
By the cart-track's side;
Of crimson seaweed rocked in the shadowy pool
Where the boat-keels ride.

The city sleeps; and one by one the clouds
Darken the moon.
The dreamers mutter and toss and softly weep;
Then, cold and still, like corpses in their shrouds,
They sleep.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...