free-verse21 lines
The Awakening
by Edgar Lee MastersWhen you lie sleeping; golden hair
Tossed on your pillow, sea shell pink
Ears that nestle, I forbear
A moment while I look and think
How you are mine, and if I dare
To bend and kiss you lying there.
* * * * *
A Raphael in the flesh! Resist
I cannot, though to break your sleep
Is thoughtless of me - you are kissed
And roused from slumber dreamless, deep -
You rub away the slumber's mist,
You scold and almost weep.
* * * * *
It is too bad to wake you so,
Just for a kiss. But when awake
You sing and dance, nor seem to know
You slept a sleep too deep to break
From which I roused you long ago
For nothing but my passion's sake -
What though your heart should ache!