HE sleeps, he slumbers -- The great Pan sleeps! The glare of noon Engrossing him cumbers The great god's brain. There breathe from heaps Of ripely sunn'd grasses Spells which solicit Again and again, Till drowsiness passes Withstanding. He slumbers: Profuse dreams visit His deep-tranced swoon. The roe-deer, panting, Lies couched in the brake: Her eye scarce peeps. Of flock and of herd The least sounds fail. On the sward lies the snake, Not stirring a scale. In the wood, no bird But ceases descanting: The tree-top numbers Are mute -- no word! He sleeps, he slumbers -- The great Pan sleeps! With sultry hum Of beetles and bees, Near to him dangles A come-go-and-come Of orbits and spangles; A shimmering swarm. And aloft o'er these A fugue of sunn'd pigeons, Cross-cruising, white-bladed, They glide, they glance, Ravelling, unravelling, In rapid manoeuvre.... Below, Pan sleeps. Still higher, brigaded In sharp wedge-form, What host has invaded -- What white host sweeps Yon aeriest regions? The cranes advance! The cranes, far-travelling, Advance and pass over! In the supreme temple Whose blue veil man Sees not nor sunders The watchers assemble To guard his sleep. Half heard they keep Watch over the deep Slumber of Pan: And he dreams wonders.... To his dreams it seems He scans unhind'red Where Olympus discloses His heaven-born kindred. The gods' mount glisters, And down sky-steeps Goddesses his sisters Scatter like roses Sweet dreams past number -- Handfuls of dreams For the great god's slumber, The sleep Pan sleeps. Tread tiptoe, Child, And break not his rest! Nay, stir not, but rather Sit here in a nest Where tall weeds darken And deep grass wreathes; Sit quiet and hearken -- His sleep, how mild! How softly he breathes! And so from aloft, From the most high heaven, So meek, so soft, The dreams shall gather, And o'er us creep, -- The sorrow-benumbers, The healers of man, The dreams that leaven The great Pan's sleep. He sleeps, he slumbers, The great god Pan! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A MOTH SEEN IN WINTER by ROBERT FROST ABOVE HALF MOON by JAMES GALVIN IT JUST SO HAPPENS by JAMES GALVIN DESTINY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 5. MARYLAND by CLARENCE MAJOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PENNIWIT, THE ARTIST by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |