Explore "The Child Asleep" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
By Clotilde de Surville
Sweet babe! true portrait of thy father's face, / Sleep on the bosom that thy lips have pressed! / Sleep, little one; and closely, gently place / Thy drowsy eyelid on thy mother's breast. / Upon that tender eye, my little friend, / Soft sleep shall come, that cometh not to me! / I watch to see thee, nourish thee, defend; / 'T is sweet to watch for thee, alone for thee! / His arms fall down; sleep sits upon his brow; / His eye is closed; he sleeps, nor dreams of harm. / Wore not his cheek the apple's ruddy glow, / Would you not say he slept on Death's cold arm?
Awake, my boy! I tremble with affright! / Awake, and chase this fatal thought! Unclose / Thine eye but for one moment on the light! / Even at the price of thine, give me repose! / Sweet error! he but slept, I breathe again; / Come, gentle dreams, the hour of sleep beguile! / O, when shall he, for whom I sigh in vain, / Beside me watch to see thy waking smile?