Counting Sheep
Half-awake I walked
A dimly-seen sweet hawthorn lane
Until sleep came;
I lingered at a gate and talked
A little with a lonely lamb.
He told me of the great still night,
Of calm starlight,
And of the lady moon, who'd stoop
For a kiss sometimes;
Of grass as soft as sleep, of rhymes
The tired flowers sang:
The ageless April tales
Of how, when sheep grew old,
As their faith told,
They went without a pang
To far green fields, where fall
Perpetual streams that call
To deathless nightingales.
And then I saw, hard by,
A shepherd lad with shining eyes,
And round him gathered one by one
Countless sheep, snow-white;
More and more they crowded
With tender cries,
Till all the field was full
Of voices and of coming sheep.
Countless they came, and I
Watched, until deep
As dream-fields lie
I was asleep.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 09, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 15 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCADEEFGGHIJJHKKGLMNEOMPQLQLQ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 771 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
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"Counting Sheep" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/57067/counting-sheep>.
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