To hear you had not slept;
to imagine you awake at three am.
followed me around all day.
To feel I could have been the cause;
to think my absence from your bed
might hold you sleepless through the night,

‘till dawn that is,
when the first birds
in the still-dark make
tentative noises-off,

a pre-dawn refrain
before some semblance of day
brings forth the ripieno choir.
Only then you slept.

This companionship we keep
relies on sleep-filled nights
and settled days, stress-free meals,
gentle evenings with our books,
and the occasional walking out
under the Spring moon.