A Love Song

O, wind of Night, soft-creeping,

Sweet charge I give to thee.

Steal where my love lies sleeping

And bear her dreams of me;

And in her dream, Love, let me seem

All she would have me be.

Kind sleep!  By thee we may attain

To joys long hoped and sought in vain,

By thee we all may find again our last divinity.

So, Night Wind, softly creeping,

This charge I give to thee.

Go where my love lies sleeping

And bear her dreams of me.

-       Jeffrey Farnol[1]

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[1] John Jeffrey Farnol (1878-1952) the author of romantic adventure stories, was born at Aston, Birmingham. His early studies included painting, and he became a talented artist. He spent eight years in America, living in Hell’s Kitchen and working as a scene painter in at the Astor Theater in New York City.  Following the successful publication of his first novel, The Broad Highway (1910), he returned to England. He had written the book years earlier, but had not found a publisher.  Rescued from neglect in a bureau drawer by his wife, who sent it to friends in England, the work established his reputation. His novels are likeable yarns of the open road set in the past, often in the Georgian or Regency period. Farnol’s work is more readable, perhaps, than that of Stanley Weyman, who may have inspired him, along with George Borrow. The Amateur Gentleman (1913) is probably his best remembered novel.  (Source: literaryheritage.org.uk)