The Insomniac

By D. R. DiFrancesco

~~~~

I lie,

Head cradled in a pillow of down,

Soft and warm still I can not sleep.

~~

Thoughts race through my wild mind,

Exhausting me as I seek out slumber,

Knowing that it eludes me again.

~~

This inescapable race,

Taunts me, dangling a carrot in front of my unwilling mind,

Exploiting the weakness in me.

~~

To what end,

As dawn breaks ending another night of torment,

I am mentally weary as I slip from between the silken sheets.

~~

Awake in the physical only,

I lumber through the day a mere shell of who I am,

Begging for respite from myself.

~~

Seeking sanctuary in melatonin and sleeping pills,

Face down in a self-induced coma,

I struggle to release my mind from this torture.

~~

Relief is only temporary,

A solitary night of dreamless repose,

Refreshing just shy of expiration.

~~

Insomnia, my uninvited friend,

My companion through hours of darkness,

Like a relative come to visit and never leaves.

~~

Eviction seems so distant,

As opportunity for lethargy escapes,

Overwhelming me with inexorable nights of tumult.