| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 433. Sea-Sleep |
| | | By Thomas Lake Harris |
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| SLEEP, sleep, sleep | |
| In thy folded waves, O Sea! | |
| Till the quiet breathings creep, | |
| With a low-voiced melody, | |
| Out of the glimmering deep. | 5 |
| For sleep is the close of life; | |
| ’T is the end of love, and its birth; | |
| ’T is the quieting of strife, | |
| And the silencing of mirth. | |
| Hush and sleep! | 10 |
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| Close thou thy lids, O Sea, | |
| On palaces and towers; | |
| Dream on deliciously | |
| Deep in thy dreamland bowers. | |
| Waken us not again, | 15 |
| Beating upon our shore, | |
| Rousing the strife in men | |
| With full and thunderous roar. | |
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| Drop from thy crested heights, | |
| To still repose and rest; | 20 |
| Fold us in hushed delights, | |
| With dream-flowers from thy breast: | |
| Not as the poppies are | |
| But lilies cool, that weep | |
| Tears that as kisses scar | 25 |
| To soothe for slumbers deep. | |
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| Hush thou the little waves, | |
| Hush with a low-voiced song, | |
| Till the Under-Deep that laves | |
| Thy lucid floor lifts strong; | 30 |
| Till the Under-Word is borne | |
| To this weary world of ours, | |
| And lives, for love that mourn, | |
| Fold as the dew-dipped flowers. | |
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| Rest thou in time’s unrest, | 35 |
| In the bloom-bell and the brain; | |
| Then loose, all silver-tressed, | |
| The streamings of thy mane: | |
| Gliding, dissolving so, | |
| That we at peace may be. | 40 |
| Sleep in thy silver glow, | |
| Thy azure calm, O Sea; | |
| Make lullaby! | |
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