it was less
sleep
more a state
of half consciousness
which gripped me
throughout the long
and restless night

a fugue state
dipping in and out
of dream
only to spin
a perpetual emotion machine
powered by mania
while being stalked
by a mysterious visitor
in a too tight
striped polo
who was always
just out of frame

the alarm sent
ripples across the stagnancy
i lay
just beneath the
oily surface
watching for a refraction
in the frozen air above
yearning to fully submerge
knowing the time
has passed for sleeping
sandpaper eyelids dragging
across unfocused orbs

an unstable pilot
of derelict dreamfreighters
sick for so long
finally ready to reenter
the waking world from
the feverish visions
cast by shadowy waves