Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Nocturne

by Florence Earle Coates

For other versions of this work, see Nocturne (Coates).

NOCTURNE

THE houseless wind has gone to rest
In some rude cavern-bed of ocean,
And Neptune smooths his foamy crest,
At Dian's will, with meek devotion;
The shepherd, gathering his sheep,
Has brought them safely to the fold,—
And in my arms my world I hold!
Sleep!

Forespent with hunting on the hill,
My truant, in the dusk returning,
Finds the lone heart, he left at will,
With the one worship burning.
The moonlight pales—the shade grows deep—
The nightingale doth silence break!
Ah, love, until the lark shall wake,
Sleep!

No homeless wanderer art thou!
Here, pillowed safe, thy head is lying.
The nightingale! Ah, listen now!
What passion—death itself defying!
Peace! Stars above us vigil keep,
While breathes for thee each mystic flower
A-bloom to-night in Dreamland bower:
Sleep!