Poem of the Week

Everyone – the city, the country, the planet –

Was asleep.

After all,

What else could they do,

I was moved

As I watched them sleeping:

Some of them were elegant and graceful,

Others were rude, sprawling over the rest,

Others tossing and turning, wracked by nightmares

And remorse for not being awake,

Others, though, were happy

To have finally managed,

With sleeping pills, with yoga,

To fall into a slumber.

An ocean of inert bodies –

Stretching over streets, valleys, mountains

To the horizon –

Across whose waves anyone

(As long as they were awake

Or walking in their sleep at least)

Could make their way

(But to what?),

An ocean with no shores, motionless,

Almost dead.

Almost dead?

And suddenly a mad fear filled me

That they may not be able to wake up

At dawn,

That by then they may forget the gestures of waking,

That they even may forget they're asleep,

That ultimate test of being.

And I began to shout at them –

I begged, I implored,

Don't forget that you're asleep,

Remember

That you're still alive...