Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs By Walter Thornbury. Illustrated by J. Whistler, F. Walker, John Tenniel, J. D. Watson, W. Small, F. Sandys, G. J. Pinwell, T. Morten, M. J. Lawless, and many others |
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The Great Enchanter.
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 | Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs |  |
The Great Enchanter.
Sleep makes us all Pashas.
—Bedouin Proverb.
Sleep is the poor man's warmest cloak;
His treasurer to dispense
His lavish alms, and turn to gold
His scanty pence.
His treasurer to dispense
His lavish alms, and turn to gold
His scanty pence.
He heals the sick man in a dream,
And sets the fettered free;
He calls the beggar from his den
To golden luxury.
And sets the fettered free;
He calls the beggar from his den
To golden luxury.
He crowns the hounded exile-king;
Reverses Fate's decrees;
And bids the briefless Pleader rise
Judge of the Common Pleas.
Reverses Fate's decrees;
And bids the briefless Pleader rise
Judge of the Common Pleas.
Sleep joins the parted lovers' hands;
Wreathes the starved poet's brow;
And calls the hero still unknown
From lonely village plough.
Wreathes the starved poet's brow;
And calls the hero still unknown
From lonely village plough.
Sleep holds the resurrection keys,
And from his shadowy plain,
Down Memory's long and cloudy vaults,
The dead glide back again.
And from his shadowy plain,
Down Memory's long and cloudy vaults,
The dead glide back again.
Sleep comes, like death, alike to all—
Divine equality!
Blesses the monarch in his state,
The slave upon the sea.
Divine equality!
Blesses the monarch in his state,
The slave upon the sea.
Sleep brings our childhood back again—
The only Golden Age;
Sleep! O thou blessed alchemist,
Thou holy Archimage!
The only Golden Age;
Sleep! O thou blessed alchemist,
Thou holy Archimage!
| Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs | |