The Charm
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n darkness the loud sea makes moan;And earth is shaken, and all evils creepAbout her ways.Oh, now to know you sleep!Out of the whirling blinding moil, alone,Out of the slow grim fight,One thought to wing -- to you, asleep,In some cool room that's open to the nightLying half-forward, breathing quietly,One white hand on the whiteUnrumpled sheet, and the ever-moving hairQuiet and still at length! . . . Your magic and your beauty and your strength,Like hills at noon or sunlight on a tree,Sleeping prevail in earth and air. In the sweet gloom above the brown and whiteNight benedictions hover; and the winds of nightMove gently round the room, and watch you there.And through the dreadful hoursThe trees and waters and the hills have keptThe sacred vigil while you slept,And lay a way of dew and flowersWhere your feet, your morning feet, shall tread.And still the darkness ebbs about your bed.Quiet, and strange, and loving-kind, you sleep.And holy joy about the earth is shed;And holiness upon the deep.
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