What is softer than two snowflakes meeting
In a windless fall of snow?
What is lighter than a down-ball sinking
On a still stream's polished flow?
Smoother than the liquid circle spreading
From the swallow's touch-and-go?--
Oh, softer, lighter, smoother, is the first approach of Sleep!
(Yet guard us in that moment, lest thy boon we may not keep!) What is stiller than two blossoms kissing
Charily with petal-tips?
Sweeter than the dewdrop that their kissing
Doth unsphere--and down it slips?
What is dimmer than the night-moth groping
For the lily's nectared lips?--
Oh, stiller, sweeter, dimmer, is the first approach of Sleep!
(Yet guard us in that moment, lest thy boon we may not keep!) What is subtler than the clues that tighten
Round the dancing midge's wings?
Shyer than the bird its nest concealing,
As aloof it flits and sings?
Closer than the poppy-leaf-lined chamber
Where the lone bee's cradle swings?--
Oh, subtler, shyer, closer, is the first approach of Sleep!
(Yet guard us in that moment ere we reach thy safest deep!) What is stranger than the moonlight mingling
With the red fire of the west?
Wilder than an Amazonian forest
Where no foot the mould hath pressed?
Dearer than the heart's most secret brooding
On the face it loveth best?--
Oh, stranger, wilder, dearer, is the first approach of Sleep!
(Oh, guard us in that moment, lest we waver back and weep!)