Failing Night

 

Just after five—

I have not been asleep

 

Pain shoots through

My leg, a single line

Of nerve

 

As if a wire was pushed

Through inside

 

Then something threw

A supernatural switch

Tripping a low current

Of too-warm, electric

 

Sting without

Cessation

 

Pulsing through tired

Muscle and protesting

Vessels

 

Having surrendered

Day’s labors into

Aspiration’s night of

Negligent awareness

Barely keeping guard

 

Letting go of awake

To turn into dream

 

In hope to re-knit and

Repair stretched

Measures in the body

And the mind

 

It’s a cycle that’s

Supposed to work

 

Why then is pain

Ruining what I’ve made

 

Not fair

 

I want to rest then rise

With good, hale

Consciousness beneath

The skin