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It’s hardly strange that so many poets have examined sleep in their poems about sleep. In this post, we will share with you a variety of fascinating and relaxing sleep poems.
Sleep is an important part of our lives, whether you have insomnia or you fall asleep as soon as your heads touch the pillow, whether you receive less rather than too much of it. One of the cornerstones of well-being is sleep. You can’t heal if you’re not sleeping.
Of course, some people can function on 6 hours of sleep. If you value great sleep and want more of it in your lives, here are some sleep poems to keep on your bedside.
Sleep is referred to in a variety of ways: napping, catching some shut-eye, drifting off, hitting the bed, turning in for the nighttime. And there’s a lot more to say about sleep!
So, before you close your eyes and go asleep, instead of counting sheep, read these poems about sleep.
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Best Poems about Sleep
We have nights when we just can’t sleep. To keep you entertained the next time you battle to sleep, we’ve produced a compilation of the best poems about sleep that are sure to make you chuckle and experience a feeling of solidarity with individuals who also fight to sleep.
1. A Cradle Song
by William Blake
Sweet dreams form a shade,
O’er my lovely infants head.
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams,
By happy silent moony beams
Sweet sleep with soft down.
Weave thy brows an infant crown.
Sweet sleep Angel mild,
Hover o’er my happy child.
Sweet smiles in the night,
Hover over my delight.
Sweet smiles Mothers smiles,
All the livelong night beguiles.
Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thy eyes,
Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,
All the dovelike moans beguiles.
Sleep sleep happy child,
All creation slept and smil’d.
Sleep sleep, happy sleep.
While o’er thee thy mother weep
Sweet babe in thy face,
Holy image I can trace.
Sweet babe once like thee.
Thy maker lay and wept for me
Wept for me for thee for all,
When he was an infant small.
Thou his image ever see.
Heavenly face that smiles on thee,
Smiles on thee on me on all,
Who became an infant small,
Infant smiles are His own smiles,
Heaven & earth to peace beguiles.
2. Don’t Wake the Baby
by Anonymous
Baby sleeps, so we must tread
Softly round her little bed,
And be careful that our toys
Do not fall and make a noise.
We must not talk, but whisper low,
Mother wants to work, we know,
That, when father comes to tea,
All may neat and cheerful be.
3. Come Sleep, O Sleep! The Certain Knot of Peace
by Sir Philip Sidney
Come, Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,
Th’ indifferent judge between the high and low;
With shield of proof shield me from out the press
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw!
O make in me those civil wars to cease!—
I will good tribute pay if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,
A chamber deaf of noise and blind of light,
A rosy garland, and a weary head;
And if these things, as being thine in right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,
Livelier than elsewhere, Stella’s image see.
4. Dream Variations
by Langston Hughes
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.
5. Sleeping in Silence
by Gregory B.Patrick
It’s 4am and I suddenly wake up
My heart is beating faster than young love
My eyes still haven’t caught up
I turn and twist, trying to release myself
There’s a noise I can’t remember
It’s coming from the floor
A podcast plays on a loop all night
It’s the only way I can get to sleep
The silence makes me over think
I can’t switch it off
So the white noise blocks the problems
As I get to drift away
6. Sleepy Little Thing
by Audrey Frost
Too young, too soon.
I can count on one hand
how many times I held you,
Sleepy little thing.
Bright eyes, wide and ancient
you stared right through me
like you knew who I was
the moment we met,
Sleepy little thing.
All I ask is that you
wave to the sun for me
kiss the stars for me
say hi to the moon for me,
Sleepy little thing.
I loved you more
in those few weeks then
I ever thought possible
but you rest and I’ll
meet you in the clouds one day,
Sleepy little thing.
This one is for my baby sister who died August 21st.
7. When you can’t sleep
by Betty Harp Butler
I have a secret that is very simple.
I’ll share it with you if I may.
When you can’t sleep,
Don’t count sheep.
Pray…
Pray for those you love,
And those who don’t love you.
Pray for your friends,
And for your enemies too.
Pray for your family-
All of them, not just one or two.
Pray for everyone who is sick, hurting, or lost.
And when you feel you are through,
Pray for you.
8. An Ode to Sleep
by Anonymous
On a pillow I lay my head
when I am tired, time for bed!
It’s as soft as a cloud,
as white as sheep,
Thank heavens it’s time
to go to sleep.
On a pillow I lay my head,
now I wish I had not read.
More time to sleep,
more time to dream
of many different things,
like yummy whipped cream.
On a pillow I lay my head
and upon getting up I will dread.
So off to bed I now must go.
Come here sheep. Here I go.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
9. The City of Sleep
by Rudyard Kipling
Over the edge of the purple down,
Where the single lamplight gleams,
Know ye the road to the Merciful Town
That is hard by the Sea of Dreams –
Where the poor may lay their wrongs away,
And the sick may forget to weep?
But we – pity us! Oh, pity us!
We wakeful; ah, pity us! –
We must go back with Policeman Day –
Back from the City of Sleep!
Weary they turn from the scroll and crown,
Fetter and prayer and plough –
They that go up to the Merciful Town,
For her gates are closing now.
It is their right in the Baths of Night
Body and soul to steep,
But we – pity us! ah, pity us!
We wakeful; oh, pity us! –
We must go back with Policeman Day –
Back from the City of Sleep!
Over the edge of the purple down,
Ere the tender dreams begin,
Look – we may look – at the Merciful Town,
But we may not enter in!
Outcasts all, from her guarded wall
Back to our watch we creep:
We – pity us! ah, pity us!
We wakeful; ah, pity us! –
We that go back with Policeman Day –
Back from the City of Sleep!
Famous Poems about Sleep
You sleep for around one-third of your life. When it comes to something this significant, you can bet people would have a lot to discuss about it. Here are some famous poems about sleep, ranging from the amusing to the deep ones.
1. Asleep Poem
by Wilfred Owen
Under his helmet, up against his pack,
After so many days of work and waking,
Sleep took him by the brow and laid him back.
There, in the happy no-time of his sleeping,
Death took him by the heart. There heaved a quaking
Of the aborted life within him leaping,
Then chest and sleepy arms once more fell slack.
And soon the slow, stray blood came creeping
From the intruding lead, like ants on track.
Whether his deeper sleep lie shaded by the shaking
Of great wings, and the thoughts that hung the stars,
High-pillowed on calm pillows of God’s making,
Above these clouds, these rains, these sleets of lead,
And these winds’ scimitars,
-Or whether yet his thin and sodden head
Confuses more and more with the low mould,
His hair being one with the grey grass
Of finished fields, and wire-scrags rusty-old,
Who knows? Who hopes? Who troubles? Let it pass!
He sleeps. He sleeps less tremulous, less cold,
Than we who wake, and waking say Alas!
2. Sleep is supposed to be
by Emily Dickinson
Sleep is supposed to be,
By souls of sanity,
The shutting of the eye.
Sleep is the station grand
Down which on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!
Morn is supposed to be,
By people of degree,
The breaking of the day.
Morning has not occurred!
That shall aurora be
East of eternity;
One with the banner gay,
One in the red array, —
That is the break of day.
3. Sleep
by Alex Gross
I’m waiting for you to come to me.
I’ve done everything in my power
To Please you. It’s cold, and dark, just
Like you like it. Now why
Don’t you come to me?
It’s four AM and I feel like shit.
This is when I want you the most.
I keep trying to fix my minor discomforts
In the hope that you will have a change
Of Heart. But you don’t, nor do you come to me.
I step out into the hallway. I
Turn the corner, into the bathroom.
I let the cactus-needle water wash over me.
I hear the ocean coming from my bedroom.
How ridiculous is that?
It’s the lack of you which makes me hear things.
But that won’t make you come to me.
You come to me at your convenience.
It appears it’s daybreak, and I
Must go to school. Why, if I may,
Do you insist on torturing me so?
I did nothing to you. I don’t believe
In caffeine, or cocaine, or anything like it.
I suppose, like Santa Claus, you must
See everybody every night.
I’ve been nice, have I not?
So for God’s sake, come to me!
I don’t wish to medicate myself.
It interrupts my creative flow.
God knows, every therapist has written me
Some scrip or another.
I’d rather suffer than poison myself.
I would reason with you instead.
But, you give me no choice.
I know how to make you come to me.
4. Bedside
by William Olsen
Because it turns out the world really is a hospital,
Because we had to have had before us a giant pair of scissors
Before four bold wings can have newly ascended,
Before new doors can revolve, before new elevators
Rise and fall empty and full, new numbers light,
New floors with new doors both open and closed
Because there are nurses to sail in and out of need,
Because need walks the doctors somewhere or another,
Because of elaborately adaptable need the bed . . .
The bed could be wheeled right into traffic and snow
Because so far there is only inside and outside
And more of both than even creation could have concocted,
Because the bed that bore us all and our desires
And our exhaustions has become a contraption,
Because the bed that keeps us coming back to it,
The bed that once sailed to the ends of the earth—
Now tied to trees dripping blood and sugar and sleep,
Anchored where overhead a TV persists, such news
As snows poor reception—because the reliable bed
Is something even a family understands, the family
Is how the world goes—a fool’s dream of awareness—
Grouped around this steel altar at its least and lowered
Because the bed is a helpless, blameless invention,
All the same to it if it is made or not, empty or not,
Same fatiguing last probabilities, because there are
As many ways to die as people to find these ways
Because there surely are, because the tried is ever new,
Who can’t lose their way anew among so many alive?
Because who hasn’t made their own bed, because
Who hasn’t slept who hasn’t been led by night there,
My mother’s hands playing the fabric of the spread
As if it were a piano, tongue-tied, isolate fingers,
She’s ghost-smoking, working on an invisible crochet
“Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate . . . I want to die”—
“Wake up!” Machado said the Gospels reduced to
But not now, not until you have what you want—
Any belief in love itself is what I’d have you want—
Look me in the eye with that sort of love that looks
Through me as if grief were so much tissue paper,
With a love that doesn’t stop with me or you, that
Doesn’t stop when there’s no more world to fear
Because there is no need to wheel the bed outside,
Because a hospital melts like a snowflake, because
The walls and windows and even the bed liquify,
Even the things she’s seen that aren’t there vanish
Because how much energy there is in emptiness,
Take everything away, there’s still something there.
5. To Sleep
by John Keats
O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas’d eyes, embower’d from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine:
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait the “Amen,” ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities.
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,—
Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.
6. Sleeplessness
by Ashley
Sleepless nights
I wake up often
No reason to be seen
It just happens
I wake up in darkness
No sight to use
I feel panic rise
I know this experience well
I wake up in fear
The darkness scares
What could be there,
Scare me the most
I never got over it
The fear of darkness
The fear of what could be
The uncertainty of it all
Take deep breaths
Pull the sheets up
Cover my face and head
Keep feet unexposed
It doesn’t help usually
Turn a light on
Make sure door is shut tight
Turn TV on for sound
Fall asleep
Wake up
Turn off light and TV
Go back to sleep.
The cycle starts again
Initially asleep
Wake up
Fear
7. Sleepyhead
by Maria Rheza Mae Rubio
Two windows closing little by little
Brittle materials be blamed for weakness
Buzz might break them off, possibly wiggle
Prolonging the boredom of her highness.
Can’t wait for blackout; freedom can be found
Ironic how simple bliss may come in
Murmur of the wind is an intense sound
This topsy-turvy world causes no grin.
Perhaps her highness craves a sweet winter
Double expectations must not be failed
Melted creation will disappoint her
Still, being anywhere but here is hailed.
That’s it for today; tomorrow again
Just hold on; she’ll close the windows by then.
8. Bedtime Poem
by George MacDonald
‘Come, children, put away your toys;
Roll up that kite’s long line;
The day is done for girls and boys-
Look, it is almost nine!
Come, weary foot, and sleepy head,
Get up, and come along to bed.’
The children, loath, must yet obey;
Up the long stair they creep;
Lie down, and something sing or say
Until they fall asleep,
To steal through caverns of the night
Into the morning’s golden light.
We, elder ones, sit up more late,
And tasks unfinished ply,
But, gently busy, watch and wait-
Dear sister, you and I,
To hear the Father, with soft tread,
Coming to carry us to bed.
9. Night – Wind
by Emily Jane Brontë
In summer’s mellow midnight,
A cloudless moon shone through
Our open parlour window,
And rose-trees wet with dew.
I sat in silent musing;
The soft wind waved my hair;
It told me heaven was glorious,
And sleeping earth was fair.
I needed not its breathing
To bring such thoughts to me;
But still it whispered lowly,
‘How dark the woods would be!
‘The thick leaves in my murmur
Are rustling like a dream,
And all their myriad voices
Instinct with spirit seem.’
I said, ‘Go, gentle singer,
Thy wooing voice is kind:
But do not think its music
Has power to reach my mind.
‘Play with the scented flower,
The young tree’s supply bough,
And leave my human feelings
In their own course to flow.’
The wanderer would not heed me:
Its kiss grew warmer still:
‘Oh Come!’ it sighed so sweetly;
‘I’ll win thee ‘gainst thy will.
‘Were we not friends from childhood?
Have I not loved thee long?
As long as thou, the solemn night,
Whose silence wakes my song.
‘And when thy heart is resting
Beneath the church-aisle stone,
I shall have time for mourning,
And thou for being alone.’
10. Winter Sleep
by Elinor Wylie
When against earth a wooden heel
Clicks as loud as stone on steel,
When stone turns flour instead of flakes,
And frost bakes clay as fire bakes,
When the hard-bitten fields at last
Crack like iron flawed in the cast,
When the world is wicked and cross and old,
I long to be quit of the cruel cold.
Little birds like bubbles of glass
Fly to other Americas,
Birds as bright as sparkles of wine
Fly in the nite to the Argentine,
Birds of azure and flame-birds go
To the tropical Gulf of Mexico:
They chase the sun, they follow the heat,
It is sweet in their bones, O sweet, sweet, sweet!
It’s not with them that I’d love to be,
But under the roots of the balsam tree.
Just as the spiniest chestnut-burr
Is lined within with the finest fur,
So the stoney-walled, snow-roofed house
Of every squirrel and mole and mouse
Is lined with thistledown, sea-gull’s feather,
Velvet mullein-leaf, heaped together
With balsam and juniper, dry and curled,
Sweeter than anything else in the world.
O what a warm and darksome nest
Where the wildest things are hidden to rest!
It’s there that I’d love to lie and sleep,
Soft, soft, soft, and deep, deep, deep!
Short Poems about Sleep
Sleep is a wonderful thing. It’s a moment when our bodies can unwind and our minds can daydream. Here are some of our favorite short poems about sleep that beautifully express its beauty.
1. A Long, Long Sleep, A Famous Sleep
by Emily Dickinson
A long, long sleep, a famous sleep
That makes no show for dawn
By strech of limb or stir of lid, —
An independent one.
Was ever idleness like this?
Within a hut of stone
To bask the centuries away
Nor once look up for noon?
2. Sleep
by John B. Tabb
When he is a little chap,
We call him Nap.
When he somewhat older grows,
We call him Doze.
When his age by hours we number,
We call him Slumber.
3. Care-charming Sleep
by John Fletcher
Care-charming Sleep, thou easer of all woes,
Brother to Death, sweetly thyself dispose
On this afflicted prince; fall like a cloud
In gentle showers; give nothing that is loud
Or painful to his slumbers; easy, sweet,
And as a purling stream, thou son of Night,
Pass by his troubled senses; sing his pain,
Like hollow murmuring wind or silver rain;
Into this prince gently, oh gently slide,
And kiss him into slumbers like a bride.
4. Sleep Schedule Definitely Needs to Be Fixed
by Anonymous
Hours in front of a screen spent
Before the world fades to black
But opens again in anguish
To greet the rising sun with
grunts of discomfort
And lavishes of thorns
of the Mourning
of all the sleep that I lost
Could have been mantra
To the early day but now
was used to toss and turn
and yearn for the tune out of
all of this plane’s distractions
Tonight, I hope the hay can be hit
Though, I know nothing will change.
5. Sleepy Boy
by Cody Haag
Sleepy boy, sleepy boy,
I miss you, my sleepy boy.
Miss your warmth next to me,
Sleepy boy,
Yours lips that set me free,
Sleepy boy.
6. Simple Heaven
by Jan Allison
Heaven to me is purely this
After a long and stressful day
Deep bubble bath, oh such pure bliss
Just need to melt my cares away
In foaming oils I love to lay
Scent of lavender will arise
Ease my tension and tired sore eyes
Wrap in a warm fluffy towel
Simple pleasures will be my prize
Drift to sleep, not be a night owl
7. Don’t Go Back to Sleep
by Anonymous
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
8. Sleep
by Anonymous
They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are covered warm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm.
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping,
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed.
Funny Poems about Sleep
Sleep is essential for optimal health. A good night’s sleep may have a favorable influence on your whole day, so it’s no wonder that people value it so highly. Here are some funny poems about sleep about hitting the hay.
1. Day sleep
by Don Juan Olmos
There is something about day sleep
that I always loved
It’s the honesty
that I feel when waking up
The vivid dreams
feeling like memories
that you can touch
and sort like vinyl records
Leaving the day
in the day behind
wake up refreshed in the evening
short before the sun sets low
for warming our family
on the other side of the planet
Truth has a taste
it’s a feeling
something you are sure about
a temporary friend
giving you light
I love day sleep!
2. Unwanted Guest
by Daniel Turner
Awakened before dawn, I gasped for breath
A sound of dark foreboding breaks the still
Outside, the unrelenting, “song of death”
That soul collector, singing, ” whip-poor-will”
Before twilight, he lands high in the pine
His feathers tan and brown, his neck plumes white
In repetitious cries that chill the spine
He calls lost souls to him before first light
And though no souls may come, he sings his song
So maddening, it makes the weary weep
His tax upon the living until dawn
The only payment he accepts is sleep
I hope the morning finds him a new tree
Someplace, far, far away, from sleeping me
3. Elusive Sleep
by Cynthia C. Naspinski
Restful sleep has proved elusive.
Lack of it is not conducive
To my overall wellbeing,
As I stare up at the ceiling.
Niggling aches and pains compound
To stop my sleep from being sound.
I toss and turn from side to side,
But all positions have been tried.
I am by all accounts quite round,
But when it comes to sleep, I’ve found
I wish I were more octagon –
A full eight sides to rotate on.
To lie flat on my back does tempt,
Though soon I find I must pre-empt
The snores I’m told will wake the dead
By rolling on my side instead.
And finally, I find my groove,
Then curse because I have to move.
The electric blanket’s getting hot
And on this side the switch is not.
If comfyness arrives too late,
I’ll feel the urge to urinate.
And once that tickle is perceived,
It soon demands to be relieved.
I do my utmost to ignore,
But know I’ll have to go before
This little twinge of urgency
Becomes full blown emergency.
I hit the loo and park it there
With just a nanosec to spare.
Sit a while and contemplate
How so much could accumulate!
Back in bed, it starts again,
The quest to find my inner zen.
Must stop my thoughts from swirling round,
The ideal pozzy must be found.
At last my eyelids start to droop.
Don’t need to pee, don’t need to poop.
But then with dread I feel the heat
Rising upwards from my feet.
A damned hot flush is taking hold
And now I’m longing for the cold!
Sheet and quilt are tossed aside,
Must suffer through till it subsides.
Once again, I know I’ve failed.
Won’t wake bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
I’ll have no pep, I’ll have no zing.
Rise and shine is not my thing.
I can’t believe it’s come to this.
I’ve tried my hardest to resist.
In order to not feel like crap,
I must embrace the nanna nap!
4. Night Without Sleep
by Ellen Bailey
Have you ever had a night
when you just couldn’t sleep?
Even when you’re so tired
you could fall off your feet?
You get up for a while,
and then you lay back down
And just lie there,
watching the clock go round
Then you remember that old adage,
“Try counting sheep”
It is supposed to help people
who have trouble falling asleep
After some time has passed by
You decide you’ll give it a try
And you start counting sheep,
counting even their feet
Since sleep won’t come,
you get out of bed
And decide to have some
roast mutton instead
5. Under the Bed
by Kathryn Evans
I cannot sleep,
I know it’s there,
That soft-pawed thing,
It traps me here.
I can’t go out
I’m filled with fear.
He has a friend.
He calls it Bear.
It watches me.
It isn’t fair.
There’s two of them
And one of me,
I can’t escape
And need a wee!
But ’til they’re gone
I’ll hide in dread,
Safely underneath
My bed.
6. Night Owl
by Dr. Upma A. Sharma
Wake up all the night,
Asleep whole day bright,
Am I a night owl?
Ward of seriously sick,
Moving my neck at three-sixty is a trick,
Am I a night owl?
Disease in fluffy plumage,
Prey to hooked talons’ curettage,
I am a night owl!
Aboard in the black hours,
Be dark sky or glitter of stars,
I am a night owl.
Inheriting the mystery and magic of night,
Taking a noiseless flight,
Blessed are the night owls!
7. Random Thoughts
by Anais Vionet
Immature – is a
word boring people use to
describe fun people
I should start a book,
a thick notebook to keep
inappropriate thoughts
Ever look at friends
and think, “Wow, we’re gonna
be some weird adults?”
Sleep is my drug, my
bed is the dealer, my clock
the cops and school the jail.
Poems about Sleep and Dreams
It’s incredible how much we can discover about ourselves from our dreams. While dreams are a crucial part of consciousness in our life, we do not completely comprehend them. Here are some poems about sleep and dreams that will help you decipher them.
1. Cat’s Dream Poem
by Pablo Neruda
How neatly a cat sleeps,
sleeps with its paws and its posture,
sleeps with its wicked claws,
and with its unfeeling blood,
sleeps with all the rings-
a series of burnt circles-
which have formed the odd geology
of its sand-colored tail.
I should like to sleep like a cat,
with all the fur of time,
with a tongue rough as flint,
with the dry sex of fire;
and after speaking to no one,
stretch myself over the world,
over roofs and landscapes,
with a passionate desire
to hunt the rats in my dreams.
I have seen how the cat asleep
would undulate, how the night
flowed through it like dark water;
and at times, it was going to fall
or possibly plunge into
the bare deserted snowdrifts.
Sometimes it grew so much in sleep
like a tiger’s great-grandfather,
and would leap in the darkness over
rooftops, clouds and volcanoes.
Sleep, sleep cat of the night,
with episcopal ceremony
and your stone-carved moustache.
Take care of all our dreams;
control the obscurity
of our slumbering prowess
with your relentless heart
and the great ruff of your tail.
2. Darkness
by George Gordon Byron
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum’d,
And men were gather’d round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other’s face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain’d;
Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguish’d with a crash—and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil’d;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look’d up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash’d their teeth and howl’d: the wild birds shriek’d
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl’d
And twin’d themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour’d,
Even dogs assail’d their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish’d men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur’d their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer’d not with a caress—he died.
The crowd was famish’d by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap’d a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak’d up,
And shivering scrap’d with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other’s aspects—saw, and shriek’d, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr’d within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp’d
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir’d before;
The winds were wither’d in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish’d; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.
3. The Dream Time
by James Andriulaitis
A divinity of beauty lays down deep
In the quiet misty peaceful dream of sleep –
A soft veil falls with the hush and the calm:
A milky, gossamer, diaphonous flow,
As the gentlest of soothing breezes doth blow
Upon the smoothest, silkiest silken robes:
The lobes of his ears erect –
Eternal transcendent triangles,
In their blessed, heavenly position of rest.
4. On Dreaming
by John Newton
When slumber seals our weary eyes,
The busy fancy wakeful keeps;
The scenes which then before us rise,
Prove something in us never sleeps.
As in another world we seem,
A new creation of our own,
All appears real, though a dream,
And all familiar, though unknown.
Sometimes the mind beholds again
The past day’s business in review,
Resumes the pleasure or the pain;
And sometimes all we meet is new.
What schemes we form, what pains we take!
We fight, we run, we fly, we fall;
But all is ended when we wake,
We scarcely then a trace recall.
But though our dreams are often wild,
Like clouds before the driving storm;
Yet some important may be styl’d,
Sent to admonish or inform.
What mighty agents have access,
What friends from heav’n, or foes from hell,
Our minds to comfort or distress,
When we are sleeping, who can tell?
One thing, at least, and ’tis enough,
We learn from this surprising fact;
Our dreams afford sufficient proof,
The soul, without the flesh, can act.
This life, which mortals so esteem,
That many choose it for their all,
They will confess, was but a dream,
When ‘waken’d by death’s awful call.
5. Sleep, Baby, Sleep
by Elizabeth Prentiss
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy father’s watching the sheep,
Thy mother’s shaking the dreamland tree,
And down drops a little dream for thee.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Sleep, baby, sleep!
The large stars are the sheep,
The little stars are the lambs, I guess,
The bright moon is the shepherdess.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy Savior loves His sheep;
He is the Lamb of God on high
Who for our sakes came down to die.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
6. Fata Morgana
by Anonymous
A blue-eyed phantom far before
Is laughing, leaping toward the sun:
Like lead I chase it evermore,
I pant and run.
It breaks the sunlight bound on bound:
Goes singing as it leaps along
To sheep-bells with a dreamy sound
A dreamy song.
I laugh, it is so brisk and gay;
It is so far before, I weep:
I hope I shall lie down some day,
Lie down and sleep.
7. Dreams
by Jane A Beresford
We slip beneath the pillow’s spell
And drift from heaven and into hell
To lose control of conscious mind
The secrets of our soul to find.
A timeless journey fills our being.
The blind man now becomes all-seeing.
The lonely now becomes the lover.
The childless wife a loving mother.
Reflection of our dormant fears
Once woken may reduce to tears.
With sleep the master free to prey
On untold thought which nightly stray.
8. Sleep to Dream
by Victor Osorio
Time to rest our eyes
We visit imagination
Best vacation of mind
Hidden desires, lost memories
Hopeful prayers aren’t blind
Stand up and speak clear
When in real time-we sleep
Viewing is on the clock
More thoughts to keep
Time to rest in hours
Dreaming in peace
Sleeping in peace
Fear isn’t common
Occuring once a blue
Control your eyes
Wake up for two
This is a test
Prepare for life
Dream to make
Sleep to dream.
Poems about Sleep for her
When you’re in a foul mood before going to bed, think on everything you’re thankful for or what brings you joy. If you enjoy watching your wife or spouse sleep, here are some sleep poems for her that capture the spirit of these lovely emotions.
1.The Dream Keeper Poem
by Langston Hughes
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
2. The Warmness of The Night
by Anonymous
I have tried to express my feelings
In the waking of the day.
I have caressed your face in the heat of today,
Most times at night I feel the flutter of my heart.
I have always shone you how I feel
It is like how proud the moon sits for the skies
And the stars are in the splendor of my emotions
Tickling the skies
And showering light to those finding the dark.
3. Sweet Dreams
by Anonymous
The pets gathering around your sleeping form,
to shield you from the chaos,
of a world so cosmically torn.
Your beauty prevails,
all through the rays of the run,
and the shade of the moon.
Through the phases of the day,
morning, night, and noon.
My dreams are filled with the sweetest scenarios,
when I sleep right by your side.
The time I get to spend with you,
to me is a great source of everlasting pride.
4. Love and Sleep
by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Lying asleep between the strokes of night
I saw my love lean over my sad bed,
Pale as the duskiest lily’s leaf or head,
Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite,
Too wan for blushing and too warm for white,
But perfect-coloured without white or red.
And her lips opened amorously, and said –
I wist not what, saving one word – Delight.
And all her face was honey to my mouth,
And all her body pasture to mine eyes;
The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire,
The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south,
The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs
And glittering eyelids of my soul’s desire.
5. Sleeping (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty)
by Yeo Kee Hwa
The tower held its own mystique
Fog shrouding its glistening peak.
Drawing in princes, kings and lords,
Swarming in largely by the hoards.
Surrounding it was a great big forest,
Of thorns and brambles and lingering darkness.
It’s sharp points shining in slivers of light,
An unheeded warning to all of its hidden might.
Tall, proud and handsome they came,
Searching for fortune, luck and fame.
Defeated, tired, they were trapped to stay,
Skin, by the unforgiving briars, flayed.
Far, deep at the heart the thorns,
In the tower of rocks long worn.
Lay the prize they all seek,
Seemingly quiet, lovely and meek.
Her hair was of carefully spun gold,
Skin as pale and clear as oft told,
Ruby lips, so dark, so red,
O’ what a beauty she made!
On the grand bed she gracefully slept,
Betwixt her hands, a rose she held.
In her long sleep, she dreamt and dreamt,
Of dead and forgotten princes; gaunt and unkempt.
The night was frozen, silent and still,
Hopes of treasures yet unfufilled.
Another pained, frightening cry
Rose, trembling, shrilly, into the sky;
Inside, she peacefully smiled,
Sweet, just for a little while.
Her scarlet lips glinted, out it jut
Seemingly painted, brilliantly, in blood.
6. Dream Land
by Anonymous
Where sunless rivers weep
Their waves into the deep,
She sleeps a charmed sleep:
Awake her not.
Led by a single star,
She came from very far
To seek where shadows are
Her pleasant lot.
She left the rosy morn,
She left the fields of corn,
For twilight cold and lorn
And water springs.
Through sleep, as through a veil,
She sees the sky look pale,
And hears the nightingale
That sadly sings.
Rest, rest, a perfect rest
Shed over brow and breast;
Her face is toward the west,
The purple land.
She cannot see the grain
Ripening on hill and plain;
She cannot feel the rain
Upon her hand.
Rest, rest, for evermore
Upon a mossy shore;
Rest, rest at the heart’s core
Till time shall cease:
Sleep that no pain shall wake;
Night that no morn shall break
Till joy shall overtake
Her perfect peace.
7. Sleep in my arms
by Christopher Poindexter
I miss you even when you
are beside me.
I dream of your body
even when you are sleeping
in my arms.
The words I love you
could never be enough.
8. Sleep Well, My Darling
by Anonymous
Sleep well, that’s all you have to do.Not for me, not for anyone else,but only for you.The world has not been kind to anyone,not to mothers or daughters,nor fathers nor sons.It has been a rather tough sequence of days,but seeing your rise through all the pain,all the hardship, even when you feel the weight of the Earth upon your very shoulders,has given us all hope for a new day.But for now, you must sleep well.The troubles that plague youvanish in the land of dreams.So sleep well, for the morning bears chances anew.
Poems about Sleep for Girlfriend
If you love watching your girlfriend enjoying a beautiful sleep you will surely love these sleeping poems for girlfriend. Share these poems with her and you will see how much she loves them.
1. Good-Night
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The lark is silent in his nest,
The breeze is sighing in its flight,
Sleep, Love, and peaceful be thy rest.
Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night.
Sweet dreams’ attend thee in thy sleep,
To soothe thy rest till morning’s light,
And angels round thee vigil keep.
Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night.
Sleep well, my love, on night’s dark breast,
And ease thy soul with slumber bright;
Be joy but thine and I am blest.
Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night.
2. Love and Sleep
by Arthur Symons
I have laid sorrow to sleep;
Love sleeps.
She who oft made me weep
Now weeps.
I loved, and have forgot,
And yet
Love tells me she will not
Forget.
She it was bid me go;
Love goes
By what strange ways, ah! no
One knows.
Because I cease to weep,
She weeps.
Here by the sea in sleep,
Love sleeps.
3. Shine
by Greta Robinson
Shine as a source of endless light
whose rainbows of colour deter the night
where daydreams are gentle as doves in flight
and sleep the sleep of angels
Shine like a shower of soft moonbeams
Inhabit the sea of a thousand dreams
where laughter and love are timeless themes
and sleep the sleep of angels
Shine like the sun in a golden sky
On warm, sultry evenings, a fragrance, a sigh
an echo of summer as life passes by
and sleep the sleep of angels
4. A Lovely Poem
by Anonymous
From the onset
I made it clear to myself
That I will never be elsewhere
But with this one, I cherish it with all my heart.
Even if circumstances threaten my decision,
They will fail woefully
Because I have got my goodnight kisses
As a backup plan,
Well-packaged and sent through this lovely poem.
I hope you’ll love them.
5. Right Here
by Anonymous
You can now rest your eyes,
please allow me to draw close.
Betwixt the mattress and covers you lay,
a restful and peaceful night to impose.
I know you’re afraid to drift off,
the fear you hold, I understand.
You fear having nobody when you awaken,
alone and desolate in this land.
But no matter what demands my attention,
no being, no man nor beast,
could ever make me abandon you,
or cause my love to cease.
We can face what lies ahead together,
I will never leave your side.
The course, the plan, the direction in life,
I will help you decide.
So when the moon gives way to the sun,
or when the stars are shielded by clouds,
you will have nothing to fear.
For no matter what becomes of us,
I will be right here.
6. While she sleeps
by Catie Curtis
While she sleeps,
I look at her,
Got these feelings,
Like never before,
So beautiful she looks,
Her face had a glow,
Like the world around,
And the time is slow,
Lifting her hand,
Gentle smiles,
All these pretty things,
I stared her for a while,
Her sleepy eyes,
Half covered by her hair,
She is like a gem,
That is so rare,
Never felt she was,
As beautiful as she looks now,
I couldn’t believe she was,
All of mine somehow,
Then she slowly,
Opens her eyes,
Seeing her man in front,
Her pretty smile gave me butterflies,
As she woke up,
She knows what I want to do,
I won’t sleep ever,
If this becomes my daily view.
7. I Don’t Sleep Because of You
by Carlie
I don’t go to sleep at night
because you haunt my dreams,
and waking up to find you’re not here
is harder than it seems.
See, I’d rather stay awake at night
because one thing I know is true,
that without my dreams of us,
I’ll never be with you.
So I don’t close my eyes at night,
and I don’t go to sleep,
because if I do,
I’d have to admit defeat.
So why don’t you try living
where you can’t face your dreams,
where every minute gets harder?
well, that’s the way it feels,
and it’s not that I can’t sleep,
because that I can do,
but if I close my eyes at night
then I am with you,
and you may think that’s what I want.
And to point you would be true,
but the reason I don’t sleep at night
is all down to you.
I’d happily dream about you all day long
Because in my dreams you care.
It’s the waking up without you
That I cannot bear.
8. No sleep so sweet as thine
by Francis Quarles
Close now thine eyes and rest secure;
Thy soul is safe enough, thy body sure;
He that loves thee, He that keeps
And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.
The smiling conscience in a sleeping breast
Has only peace, has only rest;
The music and the mirth of kings
Are all but very discords, when she sings;
Then close thine eyes and rest secure;
No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.
9. Sweet Dreams
by Anonymous
The pets gathering around your sleeping form,
to shield you from the chaos,
of a world so cosmically torn.
Your beauty prevails,
all through the rays of the sun,
and the shade of the moon.
Through the phases of the day,
morning, night, and noon.
My dreams are filled with the sweetest scenarios,
when I sleep right by your side.
The time I get to spend with you,
to me is a great source of everlasting pride.
I only hope that your dreams are as kind to you,
as you are to me.
And that you find much comfort in them,
even though the calming abyss of sleep.
Final Thoughts on Poems about Sleep
Thank you for going through the sleep poems we provided you with. Using these poems about sleep, you may train yourself to shift from pessimistic to positive thinking.
Poets have traditionally found inspiration in the irrational fantasies of slumber. We spend one-third of our lives sleeping, and our nighttime visions have challenged the interpretative abilities of our greatest authors throughout history.
Poems about sleep, fantasies and horrors, falling and staying asleep and having to wake up, sleeplessness, night thoughts, creatures of the darkness, and the resurrection of morning are all there for us to think about.
Did you find these sleep poems helpful? Tell us about your feedback in the comment section below. Also, if you any more bedtime poetry to add to our collection you are free to drop them below too.
