Sonnet 53: On Sleep

Oh sleep, you hide from me until the dawn I lay awake through the dark of the night My head on my soft pillow until morn When I awake from a nightmare with fright. Sleep you escape me in the night time hours, Time lying awake which should be sleeping Oh, how can I overcome your powers? You leave me lying there alone weeping. Oh to sleep perchance to dream of my sweet Is but a day dream that I allude to For we will never again meet or greet And there is really nothing I can do. To lay alone between the sheets awake Is a pastime I wish not to partake.