Wilton Agnew Barrett. An Awakening. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

An Awakening

By Wilton Agnew Barrett


SLEEPY head, sleepy head!
I believe the drowsy roses
We have trampled so many nights
Have got into your brain.

Do you pretend to sleep still	5
Under the thinning scarf of kisses,
And dream there is dawn and song and blossom
For the awakening
Of old lovers?

Let me tell you,	10
A formal sheet covers us now—
And it is time of day we changed it
For our proper working-clothes.

Lie quiet—listen!
All night I have been hearing it.	15
There is a gate knocking,
A gate that taps against the latch.
A little wind has lifted in the garden,
Blowing the roses.
The gate keeps tapping.	20

Here is new enchantment—
What does it say?

It is begun.
In the dark, in the dark.

There is a light lit on the desert.	25
There is a stir in the tent.
Goods are packed for the journey.

In the dark, the dark,
A caravan is moving.
The sand is broken—	30
A man is starting for birth.