University of Virginia Library


87

XIV
INSOMNIA

To wake upon the shrouded, budding sky
And sudden silence—wake and lie alone
In the gigantic solitude, and groan
To feel the sting of light upon the eye.
To wake and wait until the senses cry—
Knowing the sun shall smite upon the sea,
And rouse the tragic day that is to be,
Grief-haunted by the days that have gone by.
To wake, and wait, and lie alone, and know
That through the mist of grim familiar pain
The world is perfect music even now;
To strive and catch the master-hand that pearled
The night with song, and feel, across the rain,
A sadness as the sadness of the world.