SLEEP

and when i watched you sleep
i heard the ancients weep
tear their hair and gnash their teeth
for never having known you sweet

and when the soldiers came
and the bombs fell like rain
i cried not for pain nor hunger
i could only cry your name

now men in offices
will have their reasons
but what purpose could it serve this
taking you away from me

and when you rocked away
i heard the harbor waves
slap the sides of silver sailors
say that you were gone now safe

now men in offices
will make their treatied peace
but i wonder could they have unleashed their guns dear
if they’d ever watched you
how could they if they’d watched you
they could not if they had ever watched you sleep

spring 99 New Orleans
© myshkin 1999