If everything is going well
then something must be wrong

You ask me too often not to care,
"Why do you sit all day and stare
At the shining sea and ships out there?"
But I respond: "No reason."

You ponder again without ado,
"Surely there is something true
Which you find in the water blue?"
But I reply again, "Not so."

Yet each day you do persist:
"Some beauty must have softly kissed
To make you look so long at this!"
But I return, "Not so."

But you won't give up your quest.
"What mystery comes at your behest
To wake your quiet soul from rest?"
But I answer, "Nothing--

"--And before you can ask more of me:
Nothing! And Nothing will there be!
Shouldn't I be asking things of thee?"
And you say nothing.

Each night before I go to Sleep,
A decision has to be made in favor
Of one method or another
To help make that precious name a reality.
Some nights I try the one hand.
At least then my tossing and turning is natural,
And if at last I decide to embrace the Open-Eyed World,
I can.
Other nights I try the other.
The drugs paralyze me for endless hours,
But at least amid my nightmares I'm not conscious
And the next day I can think that I've tasted Sleep.
Every night the decision must be made, but I've come to realize,
Equal mass of skin and bones, neither hand weighs better.