Not sleeping

The good dreams only arrive

when you reach the top level

and I’ve been on the ground floor

starting to think the lift must be broken.

Something as simple as a good night’s sleep

seems too much to ask sometimes.

Add it to the unfair list.

So I buy a brand new duvet and pillows

with a quote from a scientist on the packaging

and I exercise and add droplets the lady

with the fringe in the health food shop recommended

to a glass of bedside water

and think This is it. Here we go

but nothing.

Sometimes life seems easy

hitting bullseye with your back to the dartboard

getting an A when you didn’t even revise

and I would give anything for a good eight hours

even four blocks of two

we take things for granted and now it’s like

I can’t tie up my shoes or read anymore

so I switch off the light and lie there in the dark

and breathe in and out

and wait until it’s my turn

to have dreams again.