Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE UNAWAKENED, by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE UNAWAKENED, by             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have been sleeping all my years
Last Line: One touch -- and all of me shall wake!


I HAVE been sleeping all my years --
How well I know it -- deep asleep!
I have dreamed pleasures, toil and tears,
And loves I could -- or would -- not keep!
There is one thing my sleep could break --
If any touched me I would wake!

I have been sleeping all my years.
Around me many came and went;
Their voices lightly brushed my ears,
Sooth tones, or tones of discontent,
Pleading for love's or pity's sake --
If any touched me I would wake!

I have been sleeping all my years.
I dreamed I was not loath to do,
To dare high things among my peers,
To mount where fewer grow the few;
Yes, oft I dreamed the heights to take --
If any touched me I would wake!

I have been sleeping all my years.
I dreamed that others, too, have slept,
Although where shifting fortune steers,
They turned and turned, the pace they kept!
In all no meaning could I make --
If any touched me I would wake!

I have been sleeping all my years.
But, as in dreams past turn of night,
The finger of the morn appears,
I have one dream that, catching light,
Leaves the dim spirit less opaque --
If any touched me I would wake!

I have been sleeping all my years --
Yet no! Not if this dream is true,
That somewhere (be it past the spheres!)
Some part of me sleep never knew:
One Touch the House of Life will shake --
One Touch -- and all of me shall wake!





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