ODE to SLEEP

Hail! silken Somnus, balmy pow'r! Round me Lethean poppies shed; And in the still, nocturnal hour, Be kindly near thy suppliant's bed! My aching eye-lids lave and steep In the oblivious dew of Sleep, And hush to rest corroding care: For long-continu'd, wakeful thought Would fret the web fair Fancy wrought, And Health's gay bloom impair.

On downy wings my call attend, The easy, wish'd-for boon bestow; And be not thou the faithless friend, That studious flies from sights of woe! With fibres lax, lethargic will, And listless sense, I court thee still, Yet more than half awake remain: In drowsy watchfulness I pant, Nor one fair visit wilt thou grant The poet and his pain!

Deep skill'd in Epicurean lore, And prompt to wind in Pleasure's maze, Till sated appetite's no more, And loathing comes, a thousand ways; The reas'ning brute, with follies fir'd, When to the couch of down retir'd, His restless hours may curse and weep! But Temp'rance, with unclouded mien, The passions calm, and soul serene, Be blest with kindliest Sleep!

Where coward Guilt, with pale affright, Draws close its curtains, lean and gaunt, Let all the spectres of the night His black imagination haunt! Let wailing widows shriek aloud, And cheated orphans round him croud, Invoking curses on his head! Let ruin'd Innocence appear, Grate accusations in his ear, And shake the villain's bed!

Let wild Ambition's prideful crest The troop of vengeful furies know; Rooting and rankling in his breast, For ever working keenest woe! Fine airy nothings, gewgaws, toys! Be all his unsubstantial joys, Light built upon delusion's base! Tissu'd, tormenting, wakeful care, In wild dimensions, let him share, Pervading nights and days!

The scepter'd wretch, the scourge of state, That fated millions dooms to bleed, Merits, and meets with, heart-felt hate, For ev'ry vile, atrocious deed! The heaving bosom's boding fears, The eye he gives to scalding tears, And vassals, sunk in mis'ry deep; May well demand, that such a fiend From Jove's red bolt be never screen'd, Nor know the sweets of Sleep!

But oh! to those, in life's low vale, Who humbly spend the harmless day, Be comfort sent in ev'ry gale, And let young flow'rets mark the way! Where chaste affection's lambent flame, And social duties, have their claim, Ye guardian angels, deign to smile! For such, ye clouds, drop plenty down! Let calm content their labours crown, And Sleep repay their toil!