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Naamah:

What have I tasted with the tongue

Of slumber? Mana of a dream,

Ambrosia, honey-cakes, and cream,

And nectar from the bluebells sprung.

 

The mana is the word of God,

The cakes and goodness angels’ thoughts;

And nectar is the sweetness lost

When sin does take us from the Lord.

 

What have I heard with slumber’s ear?

A song of cupidons at wing,

A melody of rebec strings

That saddens heart to soothing cheer.

 

The song’s a harmony of breeze;

The concord of those notes, the rush

Of waters sweet that boil and gush

And butterworts and sundews feed.

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Pharaoh’s Daughter:

What have I viewed with slumber’s eye?

A tomb, a door, a solemn place

Within the rocks, where ancient names

Are carved above sarcophagi.

 

The tomb’s a home of bones and dust,

And something else that, when full moon

Above that solemn place does loom,

Looks out with eyes of love and lust.

 

What have I known with slumber’s mind?

A wordless poem, a strainless song,

A roundelay what carries on

’Til tongue and ear and eye combine.

 

In Nod of old a mountain grew,

And all the creatures did declare:

“I know what being lives up there

And walks among the fields of blue.”

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