a little quiet treat for you

by James Agee (published 1938)

On the rough wet grass
of the backyard my
father and mother have spread quilts…

The stars are wise and alive,
they all seem like a smile
of great sweetness,
and they seem very near.

All my people are larger bodies than mine,
quiet, with voices and gentle and meaningless
like the voices of sleeping birds…

By some chance, here they are,
all on this earth;
and who shall ever tell the sorrow
of being on this earth, lying on quilts,
on the grass,
in a summer evening,
among the sounds of the night.

May God bless my people,
my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father,
oh, remember the kindly in their time of troube;
and in the hour of their taking away.

After a little I am taken
in and put to bed.
Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her;
and those receive me,
who quietly treat me, as one
familiar and well-beloved
in that home.