Tears in Sleep
by Louise Bogan All night the cocks crew, under a moon like day, And I, in the cage of sleep, on a stranger's breast, Shed tears, like a task not to be put away—— In the false light, false grief in my happy bed, A labor of tears, set against joy's undoing. I would not wake at your word, I had tears to say. I clung to the bars of the dream and they were said, And pain's derisive hand had given me rest From the night giving off flames, and the dark renewing |