when you're tired and need to sleep,
you go to sleep.
it is dangerous to stay awake if your eyes
are closing--
at the wheel, at work, in public.

but what if the exhaustion is
deeper than your muscles,
bones, and joints creaking.
what if it is so totally
incapacitating that you are

going to fall down?

what if you can't sleep?
how do you take a nap, a break,
a respite, from life?