Blankets cannot hold her
Her mind within her head
Sheets can’t keep her thoughts asleep
Can’t keep her in her bed
                She said
“I’ll sleep tonight, I promise,”
But sleep just slips away
Slides and glides from tired eyes
Dark circles that cheap makeup hides
Restless here
                —She’s tossing—
Restless fear
                —She’s falling—
Not asleep, just in too deep
In swirling thoughts, anxieties
“There’s no time to rest,”
She says
“It’s hard to be the best,”
She says
The best at what?
She wonders, dim
The best are gorgeous, fine and slim
Not fleshy with insomnia
                With dreams that bring cold sweat
Two hours of the night consumed
                Nightmares she won’t forget
“Don’t let it get to you,”
She says
But what she sees as true
Will always, always make it through
Through her mind, straight to her head
                She isn’t safe inside her bed
Dangling by her restless thread
Awake but far too tired, still
                Repose is not an option here
Fatigue is but a minor flaw
                And time is just her greatest fear
Chronophobic pillow fights
Erupt when she turns out the lights
Between her worries and will to sleep
“I just can’t win,”
                She mutters, soft
It’s hard to hold the world aloft
To play at night with dynamite
Awake while bed bugs surely bite