330 GOING TO SLEEP.
GOING TO SLEEP.
STEPPING straight off the shore Of a twilight frolic gay Into the arms of Sleep That is the baby s way. Down, till the tender mouth Quivers with baby-dreams, And the silver dew of sleep
On the nestled forehead gleams.
Making good fight a while,
Rubbing with school-boy fist His eyes, till lights about
Shimmer in rings of mist, With many a dreaming start
Of playground s scare or leap, Till the rough red hands lie still
So Freddie goes to sleep.
Nellie, with half-shut eyes,
Drifts onward dreamily Through the happy border-land
Of a moonlight reverie, Until, like a folded rose,
Or lily of the lake, Sleep shuts her senses up
Till a new dawn awake.
Protesting stoutly still Against Sleep s mastery,
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