Classic Poem

S OMNUS , the humble God, that dwells
In cottages and smokey cells,
Hates gilded roofs and beds of down;
And though he fears no Prince's frown
Flies from the circlet of a crown.

Come, I say, thou powerful God,
And thy leaden charming rod,
Dipped in the Lethean lake,
O'er his wakeful temples shake,
Lest he should sleep and never wake.

Nature, alas! why art thou so
Obliged to thy greatest foe?
Sleep that is thy best repast,
Yet of death it bears a taste,
And both are the same thing at last.