Stacy Zemon's Page

Ere You Lie Down to Sleep

Ere you lie down to sleep in the night, sit still awhile, and nurse again to life your gentler self.

Forget the restless, noisy spirit of the day, and encourage to speech the soft voices within you that timidly whisper of the peace of the quiet night; and occasionally look out at the quiet stars.

The night will soothe you like a tender mother, folding you against her soft bosom, and hiding you from the harm of the world.

Though denied and rejected by men in the light of day, the night will not reject you and in the still of her soft shadows you are free.

After the day's struggle there is no freedom like unfettered thoughts, no sound like the music of silence.

And though behind you lies a road of dust and heat and discouragement, and before you the challenge and uncertainty of untried paths, in this brief hour you are master of all highways, and the universe nestles in your soul.

~ Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)