Cornelius,
Cornelius,
I’m tired,
Want to sleep.

Cornelius,
Cornelius,
Stop laughing,
As I weep.

Stop hiding,
In the corner.
Stop lurking,
Like a creep.

The only way,
To rid of you,
The only way,
To sleep.
I’ll draw you,
‘Till the crack of dawn,
To satisfy your needs.

Come sleep do not avoid me
I am not your mortal enemy
as you are not mine
let us shake on it in darkness
and meet again when it is light
without this constant restless fight
of turning pillows in endless night
visit me, comfort me, set me yawning
we can talk some more, tomorrow morning

It is a new moon, outside
The bat’s wing-beat
And the bandicoot’s screech
Make for the symphony of the night

Red rivers dry up around the whites
Scrolling through the app
Nervous fingers tap
Waiting for unsent replies

In the darkness, the only light
The screen of the handheld device
Yet caged inside
An illusion of happiness
I have an app for modern medicine
Just not true peace of mind

-x-

There are monsters in the deep
That eat our secrets while we sleep
If they make it to the light
Will they betray us

Will people run away in fear
As the beast slowly appears
Or will they see the true face beneath the atrocity

All the pain so long held hidden
From relief that's been forbidden
Burdened by the weight of all its shame

Shielded from their frowns
By wearing someone else's crown
Answering only to the name that you've been gifted

He comes for her at night
His face an awful fright
Close your eyes and release him from his prison

As he ravages the town
For new secrets to be found
She wonders if her own can be forgiven

I wonder what it's like,
the gift of sleep.

He was the kind of dream you fell into
And here I am
Wrestling many sleepless nights

Oh, carry me on the winds of a sleepless dream,
Where there's fields aplenty upon the fiddler's green,
Where the woman is kind and the man is fit and clean,
Borne there upon St. Albans' wing.

Drift me off upon a fiddlers tune,
To a place where the sky is such a brilliant blue,
Where hope is abounding like those dog-days in June,
Where magnolias sprout forth like passion renewed.

****** me forth upon the lover's blade,
A more precarious place no other man can claim,
Where hope and love balance upon a precarious edge,
So easy to tumble off into that dark and void-filled death.

To be in such a state,
forsaking sleep,
Carries me to this strangest of dream,
For without such abstention,
And lack of means,
My creativity floweth out into an endless stream.

Sweetest fog consume my light
curl with me through the coming night
lay with me, stay with me, stroke my hair
sing ye of calm, a peaceful air
land on me, descend oh sleep
in smoky promise of dreams to keep

~
Sleep, no sleep
No making plans
New bed linens eat my dreamland
And settle in the wilderness of my ever-opened eyes

I see you
I see me
I see everything
I'm a play with no final curtain
The story continues unabated
And the ridiculing light of day
Is as sacrosanct as an unused blanket
Nonetheless, I'm checking in
Sleep, O sleep, swallow me
~

Tell me how the war ended.
“They didn’t let you pass. What a miracle, this is.” Said by faceless faces.

What kind of good news is this?

A restless journey of unfinished business,
X marks my spot on the river.
If I can’t pass over, I must pass under.

Tell me when the war ends.
Tell me when I’m accepted.
Tell the legacy tales of how I was expected-
By the Gods.

What kind of good news is this?

In attempt to step off the tower,
The faceless faces gathered-
Arms turned to balloons and ropes,
A safety net on the boat.
No eyes to show the window of the soul-
So they would be nothing to miss.

“We will not let you pass! No rest for the wicked!”

The faceless faces have the key,
I am as heavy as a lock.
Who has the word to let me pass?

I shall destroy it all. As my brain does me.
Thou shall only pass if thee says so-
Rocks are in my coat,
To sink below-
I will ruin your ship – I will make many X’s
You are so wrong –
There is rest for the wicked –
If you do not let me pass,
The Gods will not be surprised.
I am what they expected.
I stepped off that tower,
Wingspan like a Raven

Awake in my bed-
The war inside has ended.
Oh, what a miracle this is.
It was just a nightmare.

/ScillaB