SLEEP OF A UNIVERSITY

by: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

      ATCHING through the long, dim hours
      Like statued Mithras, stand ironic towers;
      Their haughty lines severe by light
      Are softened and gain tragedy at night.
      Self-conscious, cynics of their charge,
      Proudly they challenge the dreamless world at large.
       
      From pseudo-ancient Nassau Hall, the bell
      Crashes the hour, as if to pretend "All's well!"
      Over the campus then the listless breeze
      Floats along drowsily, filtering through the trees,
      Whose twisted branches seem to lie
      Like point d'Alencon lace against the sky
      Of soft gray-black -- a gorgeous robe
      Buttoned with stars, hung over a tiny globe.
       
      With life far-off, peace sits supreme:
      The college slumbers in a fatuous dream,
      While, watching through the moonless hours
      Like statued Mithras, stand the ironic towers.

"Sleep of a University" is reprinted from the Nassau Literary Magazine, November, 1920.

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