Bed is the boon for me! It's well to bake and sweep, But hear the word of old Lizette: It's better than all to sleep. Summer and flowers are gay, And morning light and dew; But aged eyelids love the dark Where never a light seeps through. What! -- open-eyed, my dears, Thinking your hearts will break? There's nothing, nothing, nothing, I say, That's worth the lying awake! I learned it in my youth -- Love I was dreaming of! I learned it from the needle-work That took the place of love. I learned it from the years And what they brought about; From song, and from the hills of joy Where sorrow sought me out. It's good to dream and turn, And turn and dream, or fall To comfort with my pack of bones, And know of nothing at all! Yes, never know at all If prowlers mew or bark, Nor wonder if it's three o'clock Or four o'clock of the dark. When the longer shades have fallen And the last weariness Has brought the sweetest gift of life, The last forgetfulness, If a sound as of old leaves Stir the last bed I keep, Then say, my dears: "It's old Lizette -- She's turning in her sleep." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DAWN BEHIND NIGHT by ISAAC ROSENBERG THE RESOLVE by ALEXANDER BROME THE GILLYFLOWER OF GOLD by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) THE EUMENIDES: THE FURIES' PRAYER by AESCHYLUS THE CONFIDENT SCIENTIST by ALEXIS DUSK; TO MADEMOISELLE MARIE LAURENCIN by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE IN THE GARDEN (WITH APOLOGIES TO ALFRED NOYES) by MARJORIE W. BRACHLOW |