I wrote these lines as my namesake son fell asleep in his great-grandmother's bed, here in this house haunted by love and memory, falling asleep myself then with my pencil in my hand, proud to share my name with this good man the boy I raised became

Transcendental Sonnet #1157:
Now He Sleeps

for my son Stevie

My namesake son is asleep here now
In his great-grandmother's room he rests
He studied all night then took some tests
Kept at it through the morning somehow
Came by bus here to sanctuary
Crashed at last exhausted utterly

I remember nineteen years ago
When this six-foot-five-inch man was new
While he slept I would go on tiptoe
Unnecessarily he slept through
Everything nor did he anything
Else for that first month when he first came

Now he sleeps: may this cold morning bring
Peace to this good man who shares my name



+Steven Curtis Lance

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