Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti
Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) (1787–1874)A Repose
S
(A dove, now wearied with her flight),
And all around, and all aloft,
Hang flutes and folds of virgin white:
Her hair out-darkens the dark night,
Her glance out-shines the starry sky;
But now her locks are hidden quite,
And closed is her fringed eye!
She sigheth; doth she feel no pain?
None, none! the Dream is near her heart;
The Spirit of sleep is in her brain.
He cometh down like golden rain,
Without a wish, without a sound;
He cheers the sleeper (ne’er in vain),
Like May, when earth is winter-bound.
Dethroned from his nightly sway,—
Far fading when the dawning skies
Our souls with wakening thoughts array.
Two Spirits of might doth man obey;
By each he’s wrought, from each he learns:
The one is Lord of life by day;
The other when starry Night returns.