I prayed for sleep, an earnest prayer
I thought that God would surely hear;
Yet, though my tears fell fast and free,
He kept his boon of sleep from me.
XXV
Again my soul her quest began—
“Must I too fall beneath the ban?
And, if I die not in thy death,
Where shall I live who am but breath?
XXVI
“When the frame stiffens into stone,
And death and it are left alone,
And round about it in the grave
The rat shall gnaw and winds shall rave,
XXVII
“Shall I within the dwelling stay
To watch above the heap of clay,
And while the dreary ages roll
Lie housed in earth, a prisoned soul?”
XXVIII
If this be Hell, to sit and hear
The hum of life from year to year,
Yet have no part nor lot in all
That men do on this earthly ball,