Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sleep won't come

The light does fades and I
begin to yawn and stretch.
I rub my eyes and pray to God
for sleep to come tonight.

I brush my teeth and wash
my face and swallow pills
with hope.  I look myself straight
in my eye and will myself to sleep.

I lay me down on cool white sheets
and fluff a pillow, soft.  To sleep I
pray, bless me, bless they.
I close my eyes, Amen.

Tick tock the clock downstairs will
chime each hour passing, long.
One, two, then three, and still
I wait for sleep to come to me.

I think of all the work I will be
far too tired to do.  Fear stalks
my thoughts and seems so huge.
Oh sleep why won't you come?

Then, the bliss of thoughtlessness,
sleep has found my brain.  Awake,
I hear my dog cry loud.
He needs to go outside.


18 comments:

  1. Insomnia is the worst!  I giggled at the punchline though.  :)

    Sometimes when I can't sleep, I mentally empty someone's house (any house - it doesn't matter) and decorate / furnish it the way I would do it.  Somehow that puts me to sleep ever time - probably because it takes my mind off of whatever it was that was keeping me awake. 

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  2. Just as I begin to drift off, I realize that I need to pee!

    I loved this.  Insomnia is so miserable!

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  3. Such a fun read!  Made me smile this morning, thank you!  I too have a hard time getting up in the morning.  It's as if my head says get up but my body is stubborn and often says NOPE!

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  4. Hahaha that's HILARIOUS!!! I don't know if that was the reaction you were going for, but the irony is so profound :)  Also maybe because that happened to me a few days ago, except it was a colleague texting me to see if I was safe, thereby informing me that there was reason to be concerned - happily all is well now but that feeling of 'finally, I'm resting. Oh maybe not' - yup, very familiar.

    by the way, thank you so much for all your kind words and your faithfulness. It really means the world to me and I really wish I could return the favour. Maybe when I leave Egypt and settle down a bit I will be better about commenting. I hope. But I do keep up with your writings even if you don't hear from me, and I love your tales.

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  5. ugh...been there...my brain seems to come alive when my head hits the pillow...no dog but my cat will run across my pillow....she may need some flying lessons...

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  6. Smiling at your write today my friend. 

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  7. Insomnia. Ugh. I had it worst while pregnant with my last. I had restless legs with her, too. So terrible that feeling of needing to stretch my legs...needing to sleep...not being able to find comfort or satisfaction.

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  8. It's not fun when you can't sleep. It leaves me annoyed and frustrated. You really captured it well here. You really write great poems. Looking forward to reading more.

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  9. oh friend. you know i can relate to this. something someone told me has helped: to rest my mind and my body, even if sleep evades... i think this every night, and it somehow helps. love to you.

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  10. I LOVE IT! I've been having this kind of nights for a while now!

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  11. hey look who is at the jam...smiles. i remember this one...

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  12. Insomnia seems to be everywhere. Otherwise why am I typing this at 5.40 a.m. Excellent poem and great punch line. Sweet dreams!

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  13. Insomniacs anonymous must be the biggest club in the world... LOL!

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  14. Oh it sucks not being able to sleep truly, you've captured the torment and the distraction perfectly well done!

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  15. The ending was such a great little surprise mood breaker at the end.  I don't lose sleep often but when I do, your poem certainly captures it!

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  16. Lucy,  You were my 1000th comment.  I wish I could email you or I knew which blog you write.  Thank you for being a milestone in my blogging journey.  :)

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  17. I enjoyed your poem a lot - although since I don't usually have trouble sleeping the white sheets & fluffy pillow just about did me in. So tempting!

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