To gather strength at days end
signals a laying down
of worries, joys and hopes.
All temporary ~
for rest and sleep take
a different energy that
covers me like a warm blanket. Streets grow quiet,
The building settles with faint creaks, and simple sleep is welcomed.
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
~Homer, The Odyssey
Not awake yet
shuffling through
the sludge of sleep,
walking and talking
until
movement shook me
gently awake
dregs of sleep drifting
like the heat of the day
settling into the trees
as the sun slips
down and down
to the horizon
painting the land in
deep yellows and golds.
With the soft breath
of a cooling wind,
I walk on.
“Rise up nimbly and go on your strange journey.”
~ Rumi
Slow down when the noise
of the world is too big
Slow down when your heart
races down into your feet.
Slow down and breathe
calm into your toes.
Breathe deeply, calmly
to ease into late evening.
Close your eyes and sleep
'til the new day dawns.
“Wise and slowly; they stumble that run fast.”
~ Hugh Howey, Wool Omnibus
A walk into my dreams,
holding my dream-self
by the hand,
we enter a land
peopled by doves and dragons
happy rainbows over
blackened clouds
to divine the bizarre and beautiful
frightening mountains and flowered meadows
to wake in the morning
to rumpled covers,
a tearstained face or a crooked smile.
Dreams fray like sunrise clouds
my dream-self fades into my pillow
and I am changed.
“I wake to sleep and take my waking slow.”
~ Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse
(1908 ~ 1963)
I would have loved
to stay sleeping
but the hour was 8 p.m.
so when a tinkle and trill
summoned me,
I pushed aside
the grey warm cosy
that tickled my chin.
My feet found the floor
and my nap was ended.
“Naps are a way of traveling painlessly through time into the future.”
~ Thomas Carlyle, philosopher
(1795~ 1881)
10 at night
time to sleep
pillow dreams
behind my eyes
“There is a time for many words,
and there is also a time for sleep.”
~ Homer, The Odyssey
When patience is
wearing thin
when one foot is
trapped in a splint,
when you feel like
it will never get better,
when you just need
some softness in your life
find a pile of pillows
and dig down for a nap.
“Healing takes courage, and we have courage,
even if we have to dig a little to find it.”
~ Tori Amos
Sinking into sleep,
where all ambient noise
ambles away
where sepia shadows
ease into dreamland,
body and mind flow gently
into the softness of sleep.
“Sleep’s what we need. It produces an emptiness in us
into which sooner or later energies flow.”
~ John Cage, M: Writings ’67 - ‘72
when sun polishes the floor,
lights the corners of the room,
my cat naps in its rays?
Only the book
I’m reading filling me with
the energy of another’s life,
and when I finally lay my head on my pillow,
soft sleep comes easily.
“The evening stands silent, listening to the murmurs of the night.”
~ Suman Pokhrel, Nepali poet
