Sleep

I could welcome death.
At times like these,
with sleep ever further away,
and the night seemingly unending.

The body knows it needs to rest.
The mind,however, refuses it peace,
with its whirlwind of thoughts
and circling song lyrics.

Eyes are closed against the dark.
Yet the images shown,
on one’s internal screen,
are more vivid than any film.

The beds landscape has changed.
The pillow now flat and warm,
the mattress hard and unyielding,
the duvet cloying and suffocating.

Dawn approaches all too soon.
A panic of insufficient sleep,
the countdown to days beginning,
and the braying interruption of the alarm.

Sleep should not be a challenge.
It should not be fought for,
nor wrestled into submission,
by an ever tiring mind.

To slip quietly into oblivion.
Surely the right of every man,
when reaching days end,
and laying down to sleep.