TO SLEEP [HYPNOS]
Fumigation from a Poppy
Sleep [Hypnos], king of Gods, and men of mortal birth, sov’reign of all sustain’d by mother Earth;
For thy dominion is supreme alone, o’er all extended, and by all things known.
‘Tis thine all bodies with benignant mind in other bands than those of brass to bind:
Tamer of cares, to weary toil repose, from whom sweet solace in affliction flows.
Thy pleasing, gentle chains preserve the soul, and e’en the dreadful cares of death controul;
For Death [Thanatos] and Lethe with oblivious stream, mankind thy genuine brothers justly deem.
With fav’ring aspect to my pray’r incline, and save thy mystics in their works divine.
Orphic Hymn 84 to Sleep, translation by Thomas Taylor