Sleep

John W. May

Ballad

A thousand angels watched him sleep,
His slumbers, oh, so ever deep ...
And she, with gazing eyes as they,
Approaching softly where he lay,
Did ever silent keep.

She touched his cold and pallid clay,
And wiped her weary tears away:
And as she stood there sad and bleak,
She bent to kiss his lifeless cheek,
And cursed the light of day.

About this poem

This is a fictional poem inspired by melancholy.

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Submitted by Vixility on September 10, 2023

Modified by Vixility on September 10, 2023

: 21 sec read
: 338 Views

Quick analysis:

Scheme	AABBA BBCCB
Closest metre	Iambic tetrameter
Characters	336
Words	72
Stanzas	2
Stanza Lengths	5, 5

Full analysis for Sleep »

John W. May

John W. May has lived in Colorado all his life. He currently works in the field of ophthalmology and loves to mountain bike and read about history. John first became a lover of poetry in 2008 after having read a poem by John Milton. He has been reading and studying the works of various poets since. His favorite poets are Emily Dickinson, Fyodor Tyutchev and W. B. Yeats. more…

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3 Comments

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jeremyt.40101
Lovely
LikeReply 12 months ago
- Vixility
  Thank you for stopping by. The word ‘lovely’ is greatly appreciated: I certainly didn’t want the poem to reflect anything morbid with regard to death.
  LikeReply2 months ago
adam.gutteridge
A very sad but beautiful poem. I love the storybook way in which it reads.
Two stanzas is all this poem needs for maximum effect.
What an interesting structure/scheme too! Well done John, a really great piece of work. more »
LikeReply 12 months ago
- Vixility
  Adam! Thank you! I really enjoyed the story of your poem as well—the ending was a pleasant twist. Hope more people have a chance to read it.
  LikeReply2 months ago
nfowke
I really like the simplicity and poignancy of this piece
LikeReply 12 months ago
- Vixility
  I feel your poems do the same thing, but far more better. Hoping to read more of them in the future.
  LikeReply2 months ago

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"Sleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 2 Dec. 2023. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/168712/sleep>.

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