Before Dawn

by Clark Ashton Smith


	Bleak is the night and long
	While slumber waits apart,
	Refusing this lone heart,
	These lips forlorn of song.

	Deep is the night and slow
	Whose gulf obscurely swarms
	Mad, somber, faceless forms,
	Blind masks of bale and woe.

	The moon's late-risen ray
	Though paling panes is shed....
	From dreams uncomforted
	I rouse before the day.

	Now, ere the morning break,
	Would that my head found rest
	Upon thy halcyon breast
	To sleep, and not to wake.