Charm

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2> The Charm </h2> <p> In darkness the loud sea makes moan;<br/> And earth is shaken, and all evils creep<br/> About her ways.<br/> Oh, now to know you sleep!<br/> Out of the whirling blinding moil, alone,<br/> Out of the slow grim fight,<br/> One thought to wing &mdash; to you, asleep,<br/> In some cool room that's open to the night<br/> Lying half-forward, breathing quietly,<br/> One white hand on the white<br/> Unrumpled sheet, and the ever-moving hair<br/> Quiet and still at length! . . .<br/> <br/> Your magic and your beauty and your strength,<br/> Like hills at noon or sunlight on a tree,<br/> Sleeping prevail in earth and air.<br/> <br/> In the sweet gloom above the brown and white<br/> Night benedictions hover; and the winds of night<br/> Move gently round the room, and watch you there.<br/> And through the dreadful hours<br/> The trees and waters and the hills have kept<br/> The sacred vigil while you slept,<br/> And lay a way of dew and flowers<br/> Where your feet, your morning feet, shall tread.<br/> And still the darkness ebbs about your bed.<br/> Quiet, and strange, and loving-kind, you sleep.<br/> And holy joy about the earth is shed;<br/> And holiness upon the deep.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />