Sleep Joy

Sleep Joy

by Kelp

Praiseworthy is a sleep that lasts through the night,

Wherein one glides like a seagull on the wind through the various stages of the sleep cycle,

And with a full eight hours in the cycle, one can expect to reap

All the benefits -- both physical and mental – and live to a ripe

Old age, enjoying the remaining sixteen hours each day with all of one’s faculties intact.

But who can sleep for eight full hours when we’ve trained ourselves to get by on so much less?

And waking from this temporary death, one seldom feels rested.

What the body craves is a good nap, a siesta, a driml.

Along about the afternoon, after lunch, is ideal.

The best of these will occur in an easy chair – or a hammock – in the shade – a light breeze --

Like syrup, filling and emptying the nostrils at a steady rhythm,

With perhaps the sounds and echoes of children’s laughter dangling in the breeze.

Or at a symphony, in the dim light, chest rising and falling with the swell of the music.

Or on the couch in the TV light, lulled to sleep by the droning dialogue.

Or in bed, in the afterglow, enjoying the exquisiteness of a post-coital doze.

But best of all by far:  the most soothing heavy-eyedness – concomitant

With resplendent dreams or maybe daydreams or disconnected thoughts or reverie --

In and out of consciousness -- floating like breath – your hands relaxed -- your mind a vibrant ballet --

And in your lap, in a piece with your hands, a lovely tome of poetry.