ON STEALING A CROWN, WHEN THE DEAN WAS ASLEEP

Dear Dean, since you in sleepy wise

Have oped your mouth, and closed your eyes,

Like ghost I glide along your floor,

And softly shut the parlour door:

For, should I break your sweet repose,

Who knows what money you might lose:

Since oftentimes it has been found,

A dream has given ten thousand pound?

Then sleep, my friend; dear Dean, sleep on,

And all you get shall be your own;

Provided you to this agree,

That all you lose belongs to me.

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 · 第 265 / 310 题