Poems (Schiller)/A song to sleep
A SONG TO SLEEP
Come, gentle sleep, on silver pinions soon Wing here thy way, for later grows the night;Veil from my eyes the lustrous golden moon, That floods my chamber with its yellow light.
Bring me forgetfulness of daily care, Unconsciousness of shadows that oppress,And when thou givest visions, kindly spare The scenes whose vain recalling doth distress.
But let me freely rove in lands that lie Afar beyond the island-studded sea,From where the hardy north-pines tower high, To the luxuriant blooms of tropic lea.
'Twill only be in dreams, yet let my feet Press the green sod of far-famed Switzerland;And let me see the sennhuts[1] resting sweet High on the Alpine mountains, tall and grand.
And let me tread that nursury of art— The Rome that sat upon her seven hlils—And Athens, where Aspasia played her part, And woke in Pericles passionate thrills.
And Palestine! Ah, I would not forget Her sacred hills, and vales, and shining streams;Her dim old towns and blue Genessaret, But pray they may be imaged in my dreams.
Then hasten, sleep, on silver pinions soon Wing here thy way, for later grows the night;Veil from my eyes the lustrous golden moon, That floods my chamber with its yellow light.September, 1870.
- ↑ Sennhuts—The huts of the Swiss cow-herdsmen.