Forgotten Verse: William Blake’s Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright
This poem from William Blake’s Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience beautifully captures the calm and mystery of a sleeping baby’s face. It has been requested by Dorothy Laws in an email.
Today's forgotten verse is Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright by William Blake
Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright
by William Blake
Sleep! sleep! beauty bright,
Dreaming o’er the joys of night;
Sleep! sleep! in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
Sweet Babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.
As thy softest limbs I feel,
Smiles as of the morning steal
O’er thy cheek, and o’er thy breast
Where thy little heart does rest.
O! the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake
Then the dreadful lightnings break,
From thy cheek and from thy eye,
O’er the youthful harvests nigh.
Infant wiles and infant smiles
Heaven and Earth to peace beguiles.
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