Sleep, unforgotten sorrow, sleep awhile;

Make even awhile as tho’ I might forget,

Let the wound staunch thy tedious fingers fret

Till once again I look abroad and smile

Warmed in the sunlight: let no tears defile

This hour’s content, no conscious thorns beset

My path; O sorrow slumber, slumber yet

A moment, rouse not yet the smouldering pile.

So shalt thou wake again with added strength

O unforgotten sorrow, stir again

The slackening fire, refine the lulling pain

To quickened torture and a subtler edge:

The wrung cord snaps at last; beneath the wedge

The toughest oak groans long but rends at length.