Awake

The luminous hands of the clock

rub together to call my attention:

Marley’s spectre

beyond the midnight hour.

Words tear and grip

seeking rhymes and rhythms

throughout the night when sleep eludes

thoughts like pins and needles

climb within the bed sheets

or crawl along my hair.

Distraction, seeking warmth and company,

creates diversions and distractions

banishing rest with its slight of hand

and invents scenarios

where dreaming of sleep

surpasses the sleep of dreams.

  Contemplation conspires to rob and pillage

laying mines in its path

on random fuses

and the light of darkness,

like a rabid ghost, eats my thoughts

and leaves me hungry when I awake.