Not to sleep all the night long, for pure joy, <br />Counting no sheep and careless of chimes <br />Welcoming the dawn confabulation <br />Of birch, her children, who discuss idly <br />Fanciful details of the promised coming - <br />Will she be wearing red, or russet, or blue, <br />Or pure white? - whatever she wears, glorious: <br />Not to sleep all the night long, for pure joy, <br />This is given to few but at last to me, <br />So that when 1 laugh and stretch and leap from bed <br />I shall glide downstairs, my feet brushing the carpet <br />In courtesy to civilized progression, <br />Though, did 1 wish, I could soar through the open window <br />And perch on a branch above, acceptable ally <br />Of the birds still alert, grumbling gently together.<br /><br />Robert Graves<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/not-to-sleep/
