{
 "id": "george-macdonald/the-sleepless-jesus",
 "title": "The Sleepless Jesus",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "George MacDonald",
 "poet_slug": "george-macdonald",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Disciple and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "the-disciple-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 7,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1867,
  "venue": "The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/metadata/discipleandothe02macdgoog"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/george-macdonald_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1953",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8949",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9543",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9984",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10578",
   "https://archive.org/details/bookofstrifeinfo00macd",
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/hiddenlifeandoth00macduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/discipleandothe02macdgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/rampolli00macd",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102955776",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011821572"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 44,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "’Tis time to sleep, my little boy:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why gaze thy bright eyes so?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "At night our children, for new joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Home to thy father go,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But thou art wakeful! Sleep, my child;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The moon and stars are gone;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The wind is up and raving wild,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But thou art smiling on!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "My child, thou hast immortal eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That see by their own light;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They see the children’s blood⁠—it lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Red-glowing through the night!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou hast an ever-open ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For sob or cry or moan:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou seemest not to see or hear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou only smilest on!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When first thou camest to the earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All sounds of strife were still;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A silence lay about thy birth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou didst sleep thy fill:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou wakest now⁠—why weep’st thou not?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy earth is woe-begone;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Both babes and mothers wail their lot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But still thou smilest on!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I read thy face like holy book;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No hurt is pictured there;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Deep in thine eyes I see the look",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of one who answers prayer.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond pale grief and wild uproars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou seest God’s will well done;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Low prayers, through chambers’ closed doors,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou hear’st⁠—and smilest on.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Men say: “I will arise and go;”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God says: “I will go meet:”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou seest them gather, weeping low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "About the Father’s feet;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And each for each begin to bear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And standing lonely none:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Answered, O eyes, ye see all prayer!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smile, Son of God, smile on.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}