Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AT SLUMBER TIME, by MAE WALLACE MACCASTLINE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT SLUMBER TIME, by                    
First Line: So unafraid we trust our loved to sleep
Last Line: "they do but sleep to waken with the light!"
Subject(s): Sleep


So unafraid we trust our loved to sleep
When evening shadows fall and day is done,
Content to know they will awake at dawn
And greet us when the morning has begun.

We light the candle as the hour grows late,
We smile and say, "Sleep well, dear one, good night!"
Then stand and watch them as they climb the stair
Till face and form have passed beyond our sight.

We catch the sound of footfalls as they go,
And then the gentle closing of a door
Above us, then a silence drops between
As softly as a shadow on the floor.

We go our way to rest and feel no fear,
We know they sleep to dream as we shall do,
Forgetting all the weariness of toil
Till day puts out the stars and skies grow blue.

And yet when Death's calm hour of slumber comes
To fold our loved within its rest, we weep,
We question what the solemn mystery is
That walls them from us in unwaking sleep.

We fear the silence that no cry can break,
No fond caress reach through its hush supreme
To call the sleeper back when morning comes
To fold away the night's soft robe of dream.

Oh, would we had the perfect faith to say,
When our beloved go beyond our sight
Up Death's dim stair to enter into rest,
"They do but sleep to waken with the light!"





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net