nocturnal blessing

Full and forgiving, the tolerant moon now hangs

Above the world of each, its gentle light

Is that by which absurd nocturnal roles

Are spun and acted out in private dreams;

Visions and hope come easily to sleepers,

Consign the laws of physics, for some hours at least,

To the list of things that need not bother us.

But sometimes in our dreams we come to see

What it is we have but do not have—

A perfect friendship, an undying love

That all-triumphant will defy

Familiar failure; may for you

The dreamed-of prove quite possible,

May you wake, in time, into a morning world

Where that is so; that is my wish for you,

My dear, as you lay down to sleep,

And to the mercy of the night entrust yourself.