<h2><SPAN name="page23"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE RIVER OF SLEEP</h2>
<p class="poetry"><span class="smcap">There</span> are curious
isles in the River of Sleep,<br/>
Curious isles without number.<br/>
We’ll visit them all as we leisurely creep<br/>
Down the winding stream whose current is deep,<br/>
In our beautiful barge of Slumber.</p>
<p class="poetry">The very first isle in this wonderful stream<br/>
Quite close to the shore is lying,<br/>
And after a supper of cakes and cream<br/>
We come to the Night-Mare-Isle with a scream,<br/>
And hurry away from it crying.</p>
<p class="poetry">And next is the Island-of-Lullaby,<br/>
And every one there rejoices.<br/>
The winds are only a perfumed sigh,<br/>
And the birds that sing in the treetops try<br/>
To imitate Mothers’ voices.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page24"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
24</span>A little beyond is the Isle-of-Dreams;<br/>
Oh, that is the place to be straying.<br/>
Everything there is just as it seems;<br/>
Dolls are real and sunshine gleams,<br/>
And no one calls us from playing.</p>
<p class="poetry">And then we come to the drollest isle,<br/>
And the funniest sounds come pouring<br/>
Down from its borderlands once in a while,<br/>
And we lean o’er our barge and listen and smile;<br/>
For that is the Isle-of-Snoring.</p>
<p class="poetry">And the very last isle in the River of Sleep<br/>
Is the sunshiny Isle-of-Waking.<br/>
We see it first with our eyes a-peep,<br/>
And we give a yawn—then away we leap,<br/>
The barge of Slumber forsaking.</p>
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