Wilton Agnew Barrett

SLEEPY head, sleepy head!

I believe the drowsy roses

We have trampled so many nights

Have got into your brain.

Do you pretend to sleep still

Under the thinning scarf of kisses,

And dream there is dawn and song and blossom

For the awakening

Of old lovers?

Let me tell you,

A formal sheet covers us now—

And it is time of day we changed it

For our proper working-clothes.

Lie quiet—listen!

All night I have been hearing it.

There is a gate knocking,

A gate that taps against the latch.

A little wind has lifted in the garden,

Blowing the roses.

The gate keeps tapping.

Here is new enchantment—

What does it say?

It is begun.

In the dark, in the dark.

There is a light lit on the desert.

There is a stir in the tent.

Goods are packed for the journey.

In the dark, the dark,

A caravan is moving.

The sand is broken—

A man is starting for birth.