All you blessed ones who sleep tonight

Are you dreaming wishfully
clouded castles, nirvana at the ninth?
Or are demons on your tail
racing to the crossroads
lest you utter: "sanctuary"?

All you imperviously asleep tonight

Have you never ridden cognition
like a bad trip? On that rotisserie
of restlessness, tossed and turned?
Heard the accusatory chime, felt each
cattle prod tick of the bedside clock?

And  you eternally at rest tonight

Was there an autobio show?
A tunnel to that lightness of being?
So much love that you can never turn back?
Why then do you hover here still
hesitant, confused? 

I'll never call
your name again or keep a place 
at table. Wake up at last!

25 thoughts on “At the Wake”

1. I love this, Laura! Each stanza written to perfection and I found “On that rotisserie
   of restlessness” particularly delectable.

   1. thank you Punam for such encouraging feedback and for the prompt which set this poem in motion

      1. My pleasure, Laura, on both counts.

2. That light may be tempting, but is any business ever finished?

   1. this side of it we shall never know

3. Ha! A poem almost in stream of consciousness…one really can tell you’ve been there…oh how one recognises those words….

   1. thank you Ain for the recognition!

4. “cattle prod tick of the bedside clock”……brilliant, we have all felt that!

   jim

   1. aah yes Jim – its painful too

5. So many dimensions to sleep, yes. One wonders if most of us are in one in waking life too. “rotisserie/of restlessness” is the perfect phrase for capturing that anxietal dimension many of us visit nightly.

   1. thanks you and for picking up on the nature of existence alluded to

6. rotisserie and cattle prod– brilliant! thoroughly enjoyed ❤ .

   1. happy to hear you enjoyed this – thank you

7. I felt the grief in this poem, Laura, and admire the use of alliteration in ‘clouded castles, nirvana at the ninth’ and ‘rotisserie of restlessness, tossed and turned’, for me a familiar feeling.

   1. thank you Kim – alliteration should be my middle name 😉 And yes we must let our loved ones go or keep them as ghosts

      1. My mother’s ghost still lingers.

8. Which is the greater torment, the dreams of pursuing demons or the cattle prod tick of the bedside clock, Laura. Surely delineated…

   1. Thank you! – as the Bard wrote (Henry IV) ): “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” hence sleeplessness is no respecter of rank 😉

9. Poignant, though full of wordplay, the watchful waking. Like others, I love “rotisserie of restlessness,” which captures those toss and turnings perfectly (though I generally sleep well).

   1. thank you – I do love a bit of wordplay Merril – adds that sense of fun to the most serious of topics like sleeplessness and death 😉

      1. You’re welcome, Laura! 😊

10. Wonderfully written poem. I have been on that rotisserie of restlessness too…so aptly described.

    1. thank you and for sharing sleeplessness -we have turned many times!

11. “rotisserie of restlessness”- Makes me feel grateful for the sound sleep I get every night…

    Wonderfully penned!

    1. thank you Veera – lucky you too!

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