English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Asleep. Элла Уилкокс.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс)

Asleep

"Come closer," she said, "my sister,
   For I can not see your face.
The day grows dim, and the shadows grim,
   Are gathering on apace.
I am glad that the night is coming:
   I am weary, and want to rest.
What! do you weep, that I fall asleep
   Leaning upon your breast?

"Oh, Sister, I am so tired:
   How tired you can not know.
And a jarring pain, in my weary brain,
   Beats like a cruel blow.
I think it will all have vanished,
   After I sleep awhile.
How sweetly I rest, lying here on your breast.
   In the warmth of your loving smile.

"Such a beautiful dream, my sister,
   I dreamed while I slept last night.
I thought he was true: and he came with you,
   And kissed me in love's delight.
And he said--But I am so weary,
   I will sleep ere I tell the rest."
But the sister wept, for the maiden slept
   In the sleep of death, on her breast. 

1869

Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s other poems:

1. The Phantom Ball
2. The Giddy Girl
3. The Awakening (I love the tropics, where sun and rain)
4. The Bed
5. Bleak Weather

Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):

Wilfred Owen (Уилфред Оуэн) Asleep (“Under his helmet, up against his pack”)

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