Whispered Wanderings

after Edgar Allan Poe ‘The Sleeper’

Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall!
And send my dreams away,
to where they shall not let me play:
They dance upon the wall.

Such visions that I would not keep,
through will, I shall forget.
Their wordless haunting, a duet
to keep my brain from sleep.

And sounding then within my head
some midnight ocean’s wave;
the sound of solitude I crave
entombed here in my bed.

I close my eyes at last to rest,
and send my fear away.
For soon will come another day:
I pray it will be blessed.

klm
11/30/24