Relying On Feelings Poem by RIC BASTASA

tonight sleep is cruel.
she does not come to you and you go anywhere searching for her
breasts, you are a new born child wanting to suck the milk of life
from her teats, and you want to take her like she is a sow,
and your hands are ready to caress her hair
and her soft body but she is cruel and so insensitive
and despite your endearments so she may sleep with you
tonight

she keeps that cruelty of a lover long
jilted by you.

tonight sleep takes its vengeance.
and so
you have to compose the lines again
to appease her.

speak of love, write about lovers
making love beside the sea
under the moon above the softness of the sands

tell sleep about love on top of love
caress sliding like a spill of honey to the lips of
the beloved
the tongue wriggles in such sweetness
the mouth opens and takes
every dripping desire

plead sincerity and beg for mercy.
perhaps, by then, sleep would be too kind to kiss your mouth
and gift you with a bouquet of sweet roses for dreams.