Nature-notes and impressions : in prose and verse / by Madison Cawein [electronic text]

I've wooed soft sleep all night, Clothed in her mantle white And dim as rain; I've lain all night and wept For death, who past me crept,To still this pain, Heart's pain, but all in vain.

Why cam'st thou not, O death? Why cam'st thou not, O sleep? Death's brother, calm of breath, For whom I keep Vigil the long night through:At last the day breaks blue And dim the dawn. Would that you yet might hear, And hearing me, draw near Ere night be gone.

The night is wild; the bitter blasts sweep by; The shrouded snows with ghostly fingers beat The shuddering casements, and the candle flame Seems fluttered of phantom lips whose kiss is death.