the full moon conversation…

Curfew


by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Solemnly, mournfully,

Dealing its dole,


The Curfew Bell
I

Is beginning to toll.

Cover the embers,


And put out the light;


Toil comes with the morning

And rest with the night.


Dark grow the windows,


And quenched is the fire;


Sound fades into silence,


All footsteps retire.


No voice in the chambers,


No sound in the hall!


Sleep and oblivion


Reign over all!

The book is completed,


And closed, like the day;


And the hand that has written it


Lays it away.


Dim grow its fancies;


Forgotten they lie;


Like coals in the ashes,


They darken and die.


Song sinks into silence,


The story is told,


The windows are darkened,


The hearth-stone is cold.

Darker and darker


The black shadows fall;

Sleep and oblivion


Reign over all.
 
“Curfew” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Public Domain.

I am going to recite this poem

each night to help myself fall into oblivion.

hoping to memorize the lilting rhythm.

Let me know if it helps you fall into sleep.

Jeanne