Unsleep Poem by Anthony Burge

Sleep eludes my slippery clutch

I reach but she avoids my touch

I summon her to lay with me

She dances nearer then she flees

Thoughts scrambled, muscles twitch

Eyes shut wide, can’t scratch my itch

I read, dare not at clock I look

The words they spill from page of book

Breathe in breathe out in tantric motion

Rockabye cradle drifts rolling ocean

Still sleep evades my needy grasp

Into soft slumber I beg to lapse

Of mind and body excised distraction

On edge of void I surrender traction

And hope to slip into her embrace

Shed all thoughts of track or trace

Opt out, blank slate and empty my head

Inhale the darkness above my bed

Rise twixt the stars that sparkle the night

Aboard sleeps magic rug take flight.