Poem by Thomas Warton

Ode to Sleep

On this my pensive pillow, gentle Sleep! 
Descend, in all thy downy plumage drest: 
Wipe with thy wing these eyes that wake to weep, 
And place thy crown of poppies on my breast. 

O steep my senses in oblivion’s balm, 
And sooth my throbbing pulse with lenient hand; 
This tempest of my boiling blood becalm! 
Despair grows mild at thy supreme command. 

Yet ah! in vain, familiar with the gloom, 
And sadly toiling through the tedious night, 
I seek sweet slumber, while that virgin bloom, 
For ever hovering, haunts my wretched sight. 

Nor would the dawning day my sorrows charm: 
Black midnight and the blaze of noon alike 
To me appear, while with uplifted arm 
Death stands prepar’d, but still delays, to strike. 

1. Verses Written at Montauban, 1750
2. Sonnet Written after Seeing Wilton House
3. King Arthur’s Funeral
4. Monody Written near Stratford-upon-Avon
5. Inscription over a Spring in Blenheim Gardens

Robert Anderson Ode to Sleep ("Hail, gentle soother of the human breast")

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