 | Voices and visions |  |
61
SLEEP AND DEATH
In ancient years, where yew and cypress made
Long avenues of labyrinthine shade,
Death, while he sauntered through their cryptic deep,
Came sudden upon the spectral shade of Sleep.
Long avenues of labyrinthine shade,
Death, while he sauntered through their cryptic deep,
Came sudden upon the spectral shade of Sleep.
‘How like, though differing,’ mused he, ‘is our lot!
Thou art my sister, yet I know thee not;
Thou hast thy sorceries, even as I have mine—
Tell me, sweet ghost, what spells do they enshrine?’
Thou art my sister, yet I know thee not;
Thou hast thy sorceries, even as I have mine—
Tell me, sweet ghost, what spells do they enshrine?’
Then Sleep, with sorrowing voice: ‘My reign would be
All bounty of sacred blessing, save for thee!
To-day earth's millions cower thy servile slaves,
Wide-wandering one, whose footsteps are men's graves!
All bounty of sacred blessing, save for thee!
To-day earth's millions cower thy servile slaves,
Wide-wandering one, whose footsteps are men's graves!
‘Thy boon, I grant, is infinite release;
But ah, how oft, before its final peace,
The appointed paths thy vassalages tread,
Archways of lingering anguish overspread!
But ah, how oft, before its final peace,
The appointed paths thy vassalages tread,
Archways of lingering anguish overspread!
‘Ghastly thy cold halls of oblivion gleam;
Ethereal float through mine fair forms of dream.
How ruthless frown thy ministries! In mine
Are opiates and mandragoras divine!’
Ethereal float through mine fair forms of dream.
How ruthless frown thy ministries! In mine
Are opiates and mandragoras divine!’
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Then Death: ‘With nightmares, too, thy realm is rife;—
Signs of our kinship, these, being death-in-life!
Thus merge our mysteries, even as sea with sky;
Sovereigns alike we reign, yet know not why.
Signs of our kinship, these, being death-in-life!
Thus merge our mysteries, even as sea with sky;
Sovereigns alike we reign, yet know not why.
‘Still, with strange whispers, full of charm and cheer,
The spirit whose name is Hope hath sought mine ear.
Boast not that thou alone from realms of rest
Benignantly thy votaries wakenest.
The spirit whose name is Hope hath sought mine ear.
Boast not that thou alone from realms of rest
Benignantly thy votaries wakenest.
‘Perchance for my nepenthes fate may bring
Some antidote's revitalising sting.
Perchance the drafts lethean that I distil
May kill far kindlier than they seem to kill.
Some antidote's revitalising sting.
Perchance the drafts lethean that I distil
May kill far kindlier than they seem to kill.
‘Perchance when all, sweet sister, hath been said,
I am clad far more with mercy than with dread.
Ah! wait with me, through all time's vague advance,
The authentication of that bright Perchance.’
I am clad far more with mercy than with dread.
Ah! wait with me, through all time's vague advance,
The authentication of that bright Perchance.’
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