Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SLUMBER SONG, by AMANDA BENJAMIN HALL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SLUMBER SONG, by                    
First Line: When blue dust thickens in the air
Last Line: If dying were the same!
Alternate Author Name(s): Brownell, John A., Mrs.
Subject(s): Sleep


When blue dust thickens in the air
And all the strands of wind
Are braided like unruly hair,
After the sun goes blind,

And I have signed on slumber ships,
Then am I skipper of the skies,
Strange lyrics written on my lips,
Strange sonnets in my eyes.

Then am I singing, it would seem,
To fairy fiddle and bassoon
Till daylight has dissolved the dream
As morning does the moon.

Oh, sweet and sad and quaintly dear
Are secrets that I never tell,
Which stay to haunt my waking ear,
Each like a tiny bell!

And when the blue dust is no more,
And when my loved ones, kind and gay,
Arise and listen at my door
They always steal away,

And leave me to my raptured hours,
Who smile so strangely as I rest,
Pale with the drug of poppy flowers
Still heavy on my breast.

If death be sleep, I wonder why
They gave it not the softer name --
Ah, me, but it were dear to die
If dying were the same!





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