insomnia & the scratching of a dog’s belly

the sun is rising regardless of one’s feelings on the subject &
though the night has brought no rest, no relief & clearly
no satisfaction,
one walks out into the living room where the dog is sleeping soundly
as he always does
drifting away into some dream state that has got to be more amusing than
staring awake at the wall, waiting for work to scream back
all the sweet nothings of a life growing shorter by the days &
an exhaustive way of going about it,
still, the dog awakes
looking up through the broken light bits of the daybreak
bearing beautiful eyes &
a comfort that only such loyalty can provide,
with tail wagging (pounding against the floor)
and the sideways slump of his lips & teeth mashed into the carpet
with a yawn here &
a yawn there---
wanting to know the secret,
laying down on the floor next to the dog,
the arm crawls up his belly and itches as
the tail wags more rhythmically &
he rolls halfway over
to allow for the covering of more belly area for
scratching---
though the eyes will not close &
the mind runs rampant with worry, anxieties & all the
horrible mental trappings of human
“fun,”
the dog settles for the belly scratch,
content to get some more sleep when the human leaves
content to rest himself on the carpet
content to lick arms & hands in appreciation &
even if 40 winks are so very very far away
it can sorta’ make up for it
if ya let it.