When We Are All Asleep
William Cosmo Monkhouse 1840 (London) – 1901
WHEN He returns, and finds the world so drear,
All sleeping, young and old, unfair and fair,
Will he stoop down and whisper in each ear,
“Awaken!” or for pity’s sake forbear,
Saying, “How shall I meet their frozen stare
Of wonder, and their eyes so full of fear?
How shall I comfort them in their despair,
If they cry out, ‘Too late! let us sleep here’?”
Perchance He will not wake us up, but when
He sees us look so happy in our rest,
Will murmur, “Poor dead women and dead men!
Dire was their doom, and weary was their quest.
Wherefore awake them into life again?
Let them sleep on untroubled—it is best.”
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 79 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AAAAAAAABCBCBC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 645 |
Words | 120 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"When We Are All Asleep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/39783/when-we-are-all-asleep>.
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