Thomas Campion — The Cypress Curtain of the Night

The cypress curtain of the night is spread And over all a silent dew is cast The weaker cares by sleep are conquered But I alone with hideous grief aghast In spite of Morpheus' charms a watch do keep Over mine eyes to banish careless sleep Yet oft my ttrembling eyes through faintness close; And then the map of Hell before me stands Which ghosts do see and I am one of those Ordaines to pine in sorrow's endless bands Since from my wretched soul all hopes are reft And now no cause of life to me is left Grief, sieze my soul for that will still endure When my crazed body is consumed and gone; Bear it to thy black den, there keep it sure Where thou ten thousand souls dost tire upon: Yet all do not afford such food to thee All this poor one, the worser part of me