by Luis G. Dato
Dear God, grant that the night no dawn may follow,
And thus be dumb to any wakening,
In quiet lands of slumber no such thing
Intrude on dreams as some harsh-featured morrow;
Oh, that the night the hours of day could borrow,
And the heart all its hopes and griefs wear blind,
Ne’er to awake a solitude to find,
And only loveliness, and barren sorrow!
For night is kind, and our fair dreams wore
If no dawn came in misery to show
Life’s love, in silent streets, an unloved child,
Oh, that the night departed lingered longer,
Since in its arms such happiness we know,
And in oblivion, grief is quite beguiled.
