Anne Bradstreet (ca. 1612-1672)
By Night when Others Soundly Slept
1
1By night when others soundly slept
2And hath at once both ease and Rest,
3My waking eyes were open kept
4And so to lie I found it best.
2
5I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
6With tears I sought him earnestly.
7He bow'd his ear down from Above.
8In vain I did not seek or cry.
3
9My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
10He in his Bottle put my tears,
11My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
12And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.
4
13What to my Saviour shall I give
14Who freely hath done this for me?
15I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
16And Loue him to Eternity.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Anne Bradstreet, manuscript of meditations, Stevens Memorial Library, North Andover, Mass., reproduced in Anne Bradstreet, The Tenth Muse (1650), a facsimile reproduction with an introduction by Josephine K.
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1997.
Recent editing: 4:2002/1/19
Form: Long Hymnal Measure
Rhyme: abab
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