Flame and Shadow(10)

"Only in Sleep"

    Only in sleep I see their faces, Children I played with when I was a child, Louise comes back with her brown hair braided, Annie with ringlets warm and wild.

    Only in sleep Time is forgotten —— What may have come to them, who can know？ Yet we played last night as long ago, And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.

    The years had not sharpened¹ their smooth round faces, I met their eyes and found them mild² —— Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder, And for them am I too a child？