Here is the wonder
In the toss and the turn
The deep of the night, churn
Of the unquiet brain
Fretting in furrows back and forth
Over again over again
When solace of sleep’s in slippery slide
Ever-evasive, far and wide
Will not be coaxed to rest and stay
But jitters and jumps and darts away
Then in the starless dreamless dark
Pacing the hiss of silence, hark!
Pattern of chimes to tell the hours
Strung like a chain of hedgerow flowers
A necklace of notes to punctuate
Almost a lullaby, wait oh wait
Picture the mountain scene at dawn
Meadows of daisies danced this morn
Bright in the sunlight foxglove splash
A chasing of swallows swoop and dash
In the toss and the turning, deep of night
The creep of the hours from dark till light
The ravel of cares that won’t be smoothed
Fretful as fever left un-soothed
Here is the wonder, come instead
A movie reel inside my head
And keeping in step with chiming bell
A poem forms
and
all
is
well.
Newnham on Severn, 3a.m 4th July 2011
You've got it into words Sally and the words turn into pictures and they are both just as it is. Before we change we must first be where and what we are. So just as in your poem I too have discovered many times that fighting a sleepless night is not good. Can I print it and put it by my bed? xxxx
ReplyDeleteThe sleepless nights are a newer phenomenon for me Jude though I know you are an old hand with the insomnia. It's not a great experience is it, but i am beginning to discover that I have to try not to fight it and to let it be. Something about the ordering of thoughts into a poem is soothing for me and works for insomnia eventually, just as it does in other circumstances to calm anxieties in the day time. I was thinking of all the beautiful countryside and summer glory I'd seen during the day and that led me to the poem and away from the whirligig of thoughts and worries.
ReplyDeleteI do so love the way your poetry never degenerates into self-pity, but always finds the positive note to strike.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to see you back Jenny! Thank you for your comment. I think that it is the process of writing poetry which somehow enables me to grope for the positive, so in a profound way it is therapeutic for me.
ReplyDelete