Cannot sleep

I am awake. It is the middle of the night. All is dark, quiet.

Yet, sleep, that elusive butterfly, evades, escapes me. It will not land on flower of rest. I toss and turn. My skin itches. My hand aches. My throat is scratchy.

I am frustrated. I get up wander downstairs. What to do? How to find the peace, the sleep, I need so desperately? Warm milk? Euww, doesn't appeal. Is there not a magic elixir? I wish there was.

My eyes burn, exhaustion wants respite, but there is none.

Perhaps if I sit here a while sleep will creep up and crawl over me, closing my eyes, bringing rest and relief.

Oh, please, bring relief, sweet relief - blessed blackness that blots out the thoughts that spin round and round. Rest that relieves the aches and pains my body is bearing in this moment of limbo suspended between night and day.

I just

want

to sleep.

“To sleep,

perchance to dream....”

But gentle dreams only.

Please.

November 25, 2011 3 a.m.