Christopher Morley

Audio Player



Two O’Clock

Night after night goes by: and clocks still chime
     And stars are changing patterns in the dark,
And watches tick, and over puissant Time
     Benumbs the eager brain. The dogs that bark,
The trains that roar and rattle in the night,
     The very cars that prowl, all quiet find
And leave the darkness empty, silent quite:
     Sleep comes to chloroform the fretting mind.

So all things end: and what is left at last?
     Some scribbled sonnets tossed upon the floor,
A memory of easy days gone past,
     A run-down watch, a pipe, some clothes we wore —
And in the darkened room I lean to know
     How warm her dreamless breath doth pause and flow.