laying in bed
waiting for my daughter
to go to sleep
so i can creep back out
and spend the rest
of the night
on the couch staring
at a different ceiling
one not so saturated
with sleepless declarations

i have tried everything
from whispered prayers
to the emptiness
occupying eternity
hoarse cries to the
cackling croned of fate
counting sheep as they
meander about
mindless eating machines
clinging tightly to
all the things that
are intangible to touch

writing writing writing
spilling myself out
on the electronic vellum
where it seeps into
the aether like a stain
spreading around the globe
waiting for a moment
that never seems to arrive
thinking about that
infaltable man dancing
without a care in the world
longing for sleep
incapable of quieting down

i will never get that
hour of sleep back that was
stolen by daylight saving
or the thousands of others
a too frantic mind pissed away
as the canary in my chest
sees car lights and
drunkenly mistakes them
for the rising sun
twittering a lonesome song
of shiny things lost
in the darkness of staring
out into the void only
for it to yawn back dismissively