LXIII.
“Sweet sleep with promised peace my soul did buoy,
“But I to bitter warfare wake anew;
“Sweet sleep but brought with it fallacious joy,
“But—sure and bitter—waking ills ensue.
“If falsehood so delight and truth annoy,
“Never more may I see or hear what ’s true!
“If sleeping brings me weal, and watching woe,
“The pains of waking may I never know!
LXIV.
“Blest animals that sleep through half the year,
“Nor ope your heavy eyelids, night nor day!
“For if such tedious sleep like death appear,
“Such watching is like life, I will not say,
“Since—such my lot, beyond all wont, severe—
“I death in watching, life in sleep assay.
“But oh! if death such sleep resemble, Death,
“Even now I pray thee stop my fleeting breath!”
LXV.
The clouds were gone, the horizon overspread
With glowing crimson by the new-born sun,
And in these signs, unlike the past, was read
A better promise of the day begun:
When Bradamant upstarted from her bed,
And armed her for the journey to be done,
Her thanks first rendered to the courteous lord,
For his kind cheer and hospitable board.
