I stood at the edge of my child’s sleep hearing her breathe; although I could not enter there, I could not leave. Her sleep was a small wood, perfumed with flowers; dark, peaceful, sacred, acred in hours. And she was the spirit that lives in the heart of such woods; without time, without history, wordlessly good. I spoke her name, a pebble dropped in the still night, and saw her stir, both open palms cupping their soft light; then went to the window. The greater dark outside the room gazed back, maternal, wise, with its face of moon. A few more days to GCSE English and you may be looking for an easy way TO ANALYSE THE UNSEEN POEM? …even if you feel very confident about poetry analysis, there is always the sense of the BLIND DATE with the unseen. So now I will show you an easy tip that works with students very effectively. (First just mentioning my own enjoyment of this poem. …..as a short digression?)   I explored Carol Ann Duffy’s A Child’s Sleep several years ago on this blog and loved its hypnotic, magical language that manages to expand our understanding of a most tender moment. A moment in time! Duffy is very fond of this poem and I can see why. It captures a mother’s almost mystical  awareness of the wonder of loving your child. It takes place on a threshold. in a literal sense we are behind the mother gazing into his child’s room watching the child sleep and imagining the wonderful dreams that the child might be enjoying. Meta