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!
- Wake – derived from Old English ‘wacu’, meaning ‘watch’ or ‘vigil’ – a practice of guarding the body before burial and guiding the spirit onwards
Its Open Link Night @ dVerse where anything goes but I have taken, somewhat tangentially, one of Punam’s mini prompt choice of poem “All you who sleep tonight” from Vikram Seth’s “The Golden Gate” as inspiration.
PoetryPix 