Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/79

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SLUMBER SONG
When blue dust thickens in the air And all the strands of windAre braided like unruly hair, After the sun goes blind,
And I have signed on slumber ships, Then am I skipper of the skies,Strange lyrics written on my lips, Strange sonnets in my eyes.
Then am I singing, it would seem, To fairy fiddle and bassoonTill daylight has dissolved the dream As morning does the moon.
Oh, sweet and sad and quaintly dear Are secrets that I never tell,Which stay to haunt my waking ear, Each like a tiny bell!
And when the blue dust is no more, And when my loved ones, kind and gay,Arise and listen at my door They always steal away,
And leave me to my raptured hours, Who smile so strangely as I rest,Pale with the drug of poppy flowers Still heavy on my breast.
If death be sleep, I wonder why They gave it not the softer name—Ah, me, but it were dear to die If dying were the same!
The Smart SetAmanda Benjamin Hall

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