Hypnos

Oh Hypnos lord of all the lands of dream, Whose slumb’rous breath weaves eyes with poppy leaf, And whose sweet lullabies mortals relieve Of throes, and shields them from the evil scheme Of Phobetor who roams around the world at close of eve, Oh Hypnos, phantom o’er each mossy cot, Whose gentle, dreamy hands all place to rest The cooing birds found snoozing in their nest And all the goats upon the meads where not A pallid moonbeam can descry, for all’s by night suppressed, Or mortal denizens in cities, pent Or gleaming fish found in the ocean’s deep, Or cattle, waiting in the glens for sleep To dawn upon their minds, and their souls send Into Elysium until the morn shall night’s shoots reap, And plant its gloried beams into the bare And fill the lands with nec’trous, honeyed rays, Come on us, god of sleep, unearthly grace From out the shadows of your mystic lair, And spread across our waking minds your thick, morphean haze. How much I’ve agonized and yearned to gain The lavender and eat such dozy bud, And try to fall asleep, and ever nod As I get lost and stray in dream’s domain, But never have I had success for slumber I could not! I roamed across the clouds of yester night And round the meadows of the yesteryear, But never can I my bright spirit steer Into such sleep, and take upon my flight Into deep slumber’s den, until, Hypnos you did appear, And eased my mind and soul, and with your spells Had quelled the raging passions of my heart, And carefully had closed the draws to part, Once you had done your deed and slowed the swells Of my free spirit, and had my sore mind with slumbers barred… © 2014 Gleb Zavlanov