The Voyage of Sleep

To sleep I give myself away, Unclasp the fetters of the mind, Forget the sorrows of the day, The burdens of the heart unbind. With empty sail this tired bark Drifts out upon the sea of rest, While all the shore behind grows dark And silence reigns from east to west. At last awakes the hidden breeze That bears me to the land of dreams, Where music sighs among the trees And murmurs in the winding streams. O weary day, O weary day, That dawns in fear and ends in strife, That brings no cooling draught to allay The burning fever thirst of life; O sacred night, when angel hands Are pressed upon the throbbing brow, And when the soul on shining sands Descends with angels from the prow, And sees soft skies and meadows sweet, And blossoming lanes that wind and wind To bowers where friends long parted meet And sit again with arms entwined, And catch the perfumed breeze that blows From pink-plumed orchards sloping fair And every fresh-expanding rose That throws sweet kisses to the air. O sacred night, O silvery shore, O blossoming lanes that wind and wind, Ye are my refuge more and more From ghosts that haunt the waking mind. To sleep I give myself away, Forget the visions of unrest That came through all the clamorous day, And drift into the silent west.