INSOMNIA
Close the shutters,
Put the dog outside,
Switch off the lights,
It is time to sleep.
Draw the blanket,
Over your head,
Curl up your knees
It is time to sleep.
The room is dark & warm
Like mother’s womb;
Listen to the silence drip,
Listen to your own heartbeats,
Listen to the blood pumping in your veins.
Like your mother’s heartbeats
In the long forgotten womb.
Don’t look at the ceiling
Where pale moonbeams dance,
The shutter, sleek & modern
No match for their prying eyes.
Don’t listen to the sounds from the garden
Seeping through the cracks
Of the house that you thought
Protected you from all.
A lonely bird’s cry
Piercing the silent night
Does it seek sleep too?
Craving the comfort
Of warm encircling arms?
Don’t mind the cold bed
The pillows unoccupied,
Don’t think of the warmth
Of wild passionate nights.
Close your eyes, close your eyes
Count the sheep if you would,
Waiting for sleep to come.
Breathe in, breathe out
Think of pleasant things -
Of the beautiful rose in the garden, of
poppies in the field.
Of the golden sunshine, the indigo evening,
The waves that break on the shore,
The young grass under your feet,
Blue sky where white gulls soar.
Close your eyes, close your eyes
Drive out the sorry thoughts
Of failure, of rejection
Of crosses and naughts.
Now the first bus trundles past,
Now the radium clock,
Tells you that it is another day
Dawn’s on the starting block.
Open your eyes open your eyes
Bloodshot though they be,
A new day beckons,
Like the fruit of a poisonous tree.
[APARAJITA
SEN]
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