To Sleep by John Keats

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend February 26, 2017   To Sleep   John Keats

O soft embalmer of the still midnight!   Shutting with careful fingers and benign Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light,   Enshaded in forgetfulness divine; O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,   In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes, Or wait the amen, ere thy poppy throws   Around my bed its lulling charities;   Then save me, or the passèd day will shine Upon my pillow, breeding many woes; Save me from curious conscience, that still lords   Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole; Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,   And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   "To Sleep" was published in The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900 (Clarendon Press, 1900).   John Keats was born on October 31, 1795, in London, England. His collections of poetry include Endymion: A Poetic Romance (Taylor and Hessey, 1818) and Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (Taylor and Hessey, 1820). He died on February 23, 1821.   Joseph Severn's miniature of Keats, 1819 Poetry by Keats   John Keats: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics, 1977)  "My Heart Leaps Up" by William Wordsworth "Underwoods: Epigram" by Robert Louis Stevenson "I heard a Fly buzz (465)" by Emily Dickinson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038