Skip to content
Linespedia

Sleep

By James Whitcomb Riley

Topics: classic

Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink     Muse on me, drifting out upon thy dreams,     I lave my soul as in enchanted streams     Where revelling satyrs pipe along the brink,     And tipsy with the melody they drink,     Uplift their dangling hooves, and down the beams     Of sunshine dance like motes. Thy languor seems     An ocean-depth of love wherein I sink     Like some fond Argonaut, right willingly,     Because of wooing eyes upturned to mine,     And siren-arms that coil their sorcery     About my neck, with kisses so divine,     The heavens reel above me, and the sea     Swallows and licks its wet lips over me.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink..."

Exploring the themes of classic, James Whitcomb Riley delivers a powerful performance in "Sleep"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:James Whitcomb Riley

"Thou drowsy god, whose blurred eyes, half awink..." by James Whitcomb Riley

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"Writ in between the lines of his life-deed         We trace the sacred service of a heart         Answering the Divine command, in every par"

"Crowd about me, little children -         Come and cluster 'round my knee     While I tell a little story         That happened once with me."

"O the night was dark and the night was late,         And the robbers came to rob him;      And they picked the locks of his palace-gate,"

"O her beautiful eyes! they are as blue as the dew         On the violet's bloom when the morning is new,         And the light of their love"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

James Whitcomb Riley

About James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) was an American poet known as the "Hoosier Poet." His dialect poems—including "Little Orphant Annie" and "When the Frost Is on the Punkin"—celebrate rural Indiana life and childhood nostalgia.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"Writ in between the lines of his life-deed        ..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.