| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | III. Wanting Sleep | | By William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | O GENTLE Sleep! do they belong to thee, | |
| These twinklings of oblivion? Thou dost love | |
| To sit in meekness, like the brooding Dove, | |
| A captive never wishing to be free. | |
| This tiresome night, O Sleep! thou art to me | 5 |
| A Fly, that up and down himself doth shove | |
| Upon a fretful rivulet, now above, | |
| Now on the water vexed with mockery. | |
| I have no pain that calls for patience, no; | |
| Hence am I cross and peevish as a child, | 10 |
| Am pleased by fits to have thee for my foe, | |
| Yet ever willing to be reconciled: | |
| O gentle Creature! do not use me so, | |
| But once and deeply let me be beguiled. | | | | |
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