Sleep, sleep, my beloved,
without worry, without fear,
although my soul does not sleep,
although I do not rest.
Sleep, sleep, and in the night
may your whispers be softer
than a leaf of grass,
or the silken fleece of lambs.
May my flesh slumber in you,
my worry, my trembling.
In you, may my eyes close
and my heart sleep.
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Gabriela Mistral is trying to say that she has a daughter that she loves and doesnt her to be worrying about anything.Mistral doesnt sleep at night because maybe she works and doesnt want her daughter to know. In her daughters point of view she sleeps at night and doesnt worry aboout anything. Thats why she says " in you,may my eyes close and my heart sleep" because her daughter thinks the complete opposite of what her mother really does at night when she goes to sleep. Her mother may be an angel in the eyes of her daughter but becomes something else at night.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the author may be sick and he/she wants that special someone to sleep with no worries. For its beloved one to rest and not worry about his or her sickness. In the part were the author writes “In you, may my eyes close and my heart sleep” it might be trying to say that as long as it sleeps well that the day his or her heart fall asleep ( the day it stops giving its pulse) it will fall asleep in peace. It will be good because she/he will know that they left that beloved one with no worries.
ReplyDeleteThe author for this poem is trying to send a message , that no matter what she is going through personally , her kids must always be safe and sound.They must have somewhere they can sleep comfortably even though shes not .
ReplyDeleteIt proves it mostly through the poem although thres a line in specific that proves my point more exact."In you, may my eyes close
and my heart sleep." that points out that as long as her child is secure so is she
It seems to me like the mother is already dead, and she is trying to communicate with her child. Even though the mother has departed she does not want her child to worry, or be scared. "...although my sould does not sleep, although I do not rest." That quote made me think that the mother is already dead because she prefers to look over her child than to rest in peace. The third stanza starts with "May my flesh slumber in you..." which means that as long as her child is ok, the mother is also going to be ok.
ReplyDeleteThe author is trying to say that it is a hard struggle being a mother but she still manages to do the job. It shows how she strives to make her children worry-free. You can tell this by the beginning of the poem when she mentions in the first stanza how she can't sleep but she wants her children to be able to, when she says this
ReplyDelete"Sleep, sleep, my beloved,
without worry, without fear,
although my soul does not sleep,
although I do not rest."
When the author says this you can automatically asume this is about a worried mother.
I can see where the above interpretations come from but I disagree. In my opinion, the speaker is a mother talking to her dead child’s ghost. She is sad not because she’s absent from her home but because her child died. Although she is in deep sorrow, she tries to comfort her child’s ghost to sleep in peace without worrying about her. The speaker asks her child to comfort her worry and her fears (trembling). In the last stanza, the speaker tells her child to take her with him/her, to make her “heart sleep” and her “eyes close”. Having lost her child has made the speaker undergo a deep depression and has led her to want death as well. Using the word sleep reminds me of a lullaby and it puts the imagery of the mother caressing her child’s hair begging him/her to sleep in peace while she cries. The mother is suffering her child’s lost.
ReplyDeleteI too believe that the mother is dead. The quote “Although my soul does not sleep,” really makes that clear. I believe that the mother was not able to give her child the love she would have like to when she was alive. She wants to be a part of her child and wishes for him/her to know that she does care for him/her, that she does worry about him/her. Once her child knows that she truly does love and care for her child, her soul will be able to rest.
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem is a monologue by the son. He sits near his sick mother taking care of her.
ReplyDeletevery good
ReplyDelete