Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO MY CHILDREN - ASLEEP, by ALAN SULLIVAN (1867-)


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO MY CHILDREN - ASLEEP, by                    
First Line: List to their gentle breathing in the night
Last Line: Put out the light! The gloom cloaks best a worshiper.
Subject(s): Children; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


List to their gentle breathing in the night,
Flushed pink with slumber. Now their curious eyes
Pale-lidded, shine not, nor their glances bright
Welcome the new day with its new surprise.
How still the feet that raced -- that leaped, as light
As the small cloud that loiters in the skies:
How rare the bud before its opening hour
With fragrance that we find not in the perfect flower.

And who am I to bring this rapture down,
Irradiant, to bless the arid earth?
For I have ventured to the high unknown
And grasped the Godhead in the hour of birth;
My clay has dared to wear a kingly crown,
And raid the heavens to appease my death:
So close the ways of finite mortals bend
To mysteries that round our fleeting lives extend.

Now, as the days pass, they will grow and make
A God of me -- less worshipful than they:
Of my imperfect image they will take
Only the good, will talk of me at play,
Will weave me through their souls, so that to break
Their gentle vision is to take away
Their best delight. Ah, none but children see
Behind the world-worn man his lost divinity.

To them dim years will open: to their gaze
Will mystery and prophecy unfold,
Strange lights will shine upon them, and the rays
Of unborn knowledge be in flame outrolled;
No wonder will their wondrous eyes amaze:
But God will baffle as he did of old,
Till, on the steps of wisdom, it is given
That man, being wise, may climb -- a child -- to heaven.

And if, still tender, they shall think of me,
Keep green the spot and guard the springing grass,
Then I too shall remember, being free
From earthly duty: I shall hear them pass,
Catch even the word, and live on memory
Of small, fond things: My soul shall not harass
Those whom I dragged to earth. . . . See how they stir!
Put out the light! The gloom cloaks best a worshiper.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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