ASLEEP.
Reading edition
LIDS closed and pale, with parted lips she lay; Black on white pillows spread her hair unbound. Awake, I watched her sleeping face, and found Its beauty perfect in the breaking day. Ah, then I knew that Love had passed away; Alas! though with the entering sun that crowned With light the beauty that mine arms enwound, Came too the morning music of the bay. I wept that Love had been and was no more, That never shower nor sunlight should restore The love that gave her life and heart to me; While radiant in the outburst of the dawn, Fresh as the wind that swept the mountain lawn, Green April wantoned on the noisy sea. Theodore Wratislaw.