Sem sono

As you lie before me now,
like a shadow on a pea-green sea:
Never thought that I would find you so hollow
Laying into me.

This cup of wine -
All salt and brine's made me sleepy.
Sorrow sows a field of tears, that will never yield a single penny,
That I don't owe.
Got nothing to hold on to.

Wished for gold so I could buy you a palace by the riverside
You'd come in and I would fill your diamond chalice.
You were still alive.

This cup of wine -
Of salt and brine's made me sleepy.
Sorrow sows a field of tears, that will never yield a single penny,
That I don't owe.
Got nothing to hold on to - I've got nothing to hold on to.

***

Were you sleepless, tearing at the air?
Was the water everywhere?
Were you fretful to wade into the room?
I'd been wanting to hear from you.
Oh, no

Hand it over,
Hand it over.
You're weary, lay him down:
You did your time, so thank you very much.
Hand it over,
Hand it over.
So now your hopes are all allayed -
Would you hand it all away?

Did his eyelids affix on empty chairs?
You had traveled to lay beside a gentle torture to watch it all recede,
And all the while, your mother slept beside him.
Oh, no.

Hand it over,
Hand it over.
You're weary, lay him down.
You did your time, so thank you very much.
Hand it over,
Hand it over.
So now your hopes are all allayed -
Would you hand it all away?

Were you sleepless, tearing at the air?
Was the water everywhere?
Were you fearful and long to run away from the cold clasp of Illinois?
Oh, no.

Hand it over,
Hand it over,
You're weary, lay him down.
You did your time, so thank you very much.
Hand it over,
Hand it over.
So now your hopes are all allayed -
Would you hand it all away?
No
Would you hand it all away?
Oh...

("Sleepless," The Decemberists)