I would not wake at your word, I had tears to say

All night the cocks crew, under a moon like day, 

And I, in the cage of sleep, on a stranger's breast, 

Shed tears, like a task not to be put away—

In the false light, false grief in my happy bed, 

A labor of tears, set against joy's undoing. 

I would not wake at your word, I had tears to say. 

I clung to the bars of the dream and they were said, 

And pain's derisive hand had given me rest 

From the night giving off flames, and the dark renewing. 

[Louise Bogan {1897-1970} 'Tears In Sleep', from The Blue Estuaries]