NOD

I was compiling a book of poetry for my seven year old grandchild, remembering the poetry that my mother read to me as a child.  This one was my favourite:

NOD by Walter de la Mare 1873-1956

Softly along the road of evening,  
    In a twilight dim with rose,  
Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dew  
    Old Nod, the shepherd, goes.  
  
His drowsy flock streams on before him, 
    Their fleeces charged with gold,  
To where the sun's last beam leans low  
    On Nod the shepherd's fold.  
  
The hedge is quick and green with briar,  
    From their sand the conies creep;
And all the birds that fly in heaven  
    Flock singing home to sleep.  
  
His lambs outnumber a noon's roses,  
    Yet, when night's shadows fall,  
His blind old sheep-dog, Slumber-soon,
    Misses not one of all.  
  
His are the quiet steeps of dreamland,  
    The waters of no-more-pain;  
His ram's bell rings 'neath an arch of stars,  
    "Rest, rest, and rest again."

(painting 'Shepherd with a flock of sheep' Vincent van Gogh)