Falling To Sleep

Stop.

I can’t stop.

I can’t not
Do this
Desired and
Dreaded
Falling asleep task.

My speech slurs;
My hands fumble;
My sight blurs;
My feet stumble.

My brain numbs
And blanks.

Hamlet had
More words,
But his sleep was
Life’s final cap.

Is it so much to ask?
I just need to nap.

Dreaming

My mind drifts
From thought to thought.
Vague mirage shapes
Twist beyond sight
And outside hearing,
Dissolving endlessly,
Reforming.

Just moments pass,
Yet seem forever
In my dreams.

My heart strains,
My skin pours sweat, and yet
That strange land
Saves my soul from corrosion,
Heals wounds,
And lights my drab skies at times
With sparks from
The smoldering me
That day will never see.

Dream Beast

What can I tell myself
Early in the morning
When a dream leaves me
With a pounding heart
And it is about
Me in the dream
There should be warning?

Where shall I go for safety,
For surcease from fear,
If the monster is already here
And has been from the start?

I trust no one else to guard
This most dangerous of beasts—
I am the solitary warden—
And likewise look to none other
To give it pardon.