Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/434

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SLEEP-CHASINGS.

1.I wander all night in my vision,
Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping
and stopping.
Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of
sleepers,
Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill-assorted,
contradictory.
Pausing, gazing, bending, and stopping.

2.How solemn they look there, stretched and still!
How quiet they breathe, the little children in their
cradles!

3. The wretched features of ennuyés, the white features
of corpses, the livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray
faces of onanists.
The gashed bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their
strong-doored rooms, the sacred idiots, the newborn
emerging from gates, and the dying emerging
from gates,
The night pervades them and infolds them.

4.The married couple sleep calmly in their bed—he
with his palm on the hip of the wife, and she
with her palm on the hip of the husband,

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