A Rude Awakening Poem by Robert Dummett

A blast from a Tannoy breaks my
Early morning sleep, not for the first time...
Sounds invade the stillness of compound
And handcuff my ears to a cacophony
Of wails, it just won't let up,
Like some nightmare stuck in a record of time.
“Prayer is better than sleep” is the cry,
A cry all too familiar, all too monotonous
All too loud like gunshots that thunder day,
And as wind wings decibels to beat drums,
Thoughts throw up for me thousands of twisted
Bodies in the flotsam of Tsunami
Exposing the“god-of-the-gaps” grave,
And though gray cells lack the luster of charge,
Sense kicks in with the litmus test of logic:
Better to sleep at peace in hell
Than to pray and war in heaven,
I turn, plug my ears
And sweep into shadows of dreams.