Elizabeth Madox Roberts

From “Under the Tree”

AND I looked for him everywhere

Because I wanted him to play;

And then I found him on his bed

Asleep, but it was day.

His eyes were shut behind the lids—

He couldn’t lift them up to see.

And I looked at him very long,

And something in him looked at me.

And he was something like a cat

That is asleep, and like a dog;

Or like a thing that’s in the woods

All day behind a log.

And then I was afraid of it,

Of something that was sleeping there.

I didn’t even say his name,

But I came down the stair.