[Page 75]

ADDRESSED TO SLEEP.

1 Descend, sweet Sleep, mine eyelids close
2 With peace-restoring balm;
3 'Tis thou alone can'st heal my woes,
4 And lull me to a calm.
5 Come then on Fancy's airy wing
6 With all thy pleasing train,
7 Thy kind delusions with thee bring,
8 And lull my aching brain.
9 But why so oft must I in vain
10 Invoke thy sov'reign power?
11 Say, cruel, why dost thou disdain
12 On me thy bliss to shower?
[Page 76]
13 Freely by Heav'n on all thou'rt shed,
14 The gift all nature shares,
15 Why then from me so distant fled?
16 Ah! why not hear my pray'r?
17 Why, like the selfish and the vain,
18 Thus deaf to sorrow's cry,
19 Court none but Pleasure's smiling train,
20 And shun the weeping eye?
21 Did wicked thoughts within my breast
22 A welcome harbour meet,
23 Did I, when lying down to rest,
24 Plot or contrive deceit,
25 Then could I not presume to find
26 Remission of my grief;
27 For whither can a guilty mind
28 Resort for its relief?
[Page 77]
29 But soft! sure 'twas a voice that said
30 "Stop! thy rebukes are vain;
31 Man by his Maker first was made
32 Exempt from grief or pain."

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Title (in Source Edition): ADDRESSED TO SLEEP.
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Alcock [née Cumberland], Mary, 1741?–1798. Poems, &c. &c. by the Late Mrs. Mary Alcock [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Dilly, Poultry, 1799, pp. 75-77. vii,[25],183,[1]p. (ESTC T86344) (Page images digitized by University of Michigan Library.)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Mary Alcock (née Cumberland)