Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

Do you emulate both slob and insomniac?
Cursed with too little rest one night,
And sleep like a corpse the next,
Does your routine remain fluidic?
Unpredictable and overly pliable,

You see,
A sleep schedule is like a beast,
An anaconda with a foul temper,
A stallion not yet broken,
A sloth and a dragon,

It won’t always heed your wants,
It has a wild heart all its own,
It’ll thrash and kick,
Bite and try to flee,
And your daylight hours will bear the wounds,

It could indeed be tamed,
Through effort and habitual changes
Fewer chemicals and bedtimes kept,
Respect this cavalier animal,
And you’ll rest anew.

Last night,
I went for a walk within my dreams,
Traipsing through that dreamscape,
With nary a hand to hold,
Under a kaleidoscopic sky of grinning clouds,
Through violet and teal oceans of grass,
Crossing bridges suspended over fuchsia streams,
With the breeze singing sweet tunes in my ear,
It was a lonely trek,
But a euphoric one,

Alas,
The dream ended,
As the sun returned me to grey,
But does that world still remain?
Can I go back?

Don’t wake me,
Leave me to doze,
Leave me in this oasis of Nyx,
In this soothing coma,
Entwined in the dark,
Don’t let the day start,
Don’t let it get the hooks in,
I don’t want to lose the dreams,
The euphoria of those brainwaves,
Real life simply cannot match them,
The waking world offers no substitute,

Don’t wake me,
Please,
Just let me slumber,
Just five more minutes.

The hour grows dire,
I retreat to my crib,
And yet my mind swims,
Drenched in a cornucopia of thought,
Unable to switch off,
To finally drown in the dark,

No degree of comfort seems to help,
Even Lady Lunar cannot assist,
Restrained from me by overcast skies,
I’m floating on a sea of gloom,
Intermittently hounded by the phone screen,
An unwanted lifeguard in this tide,

I need to sleep,
To descend,
Before the sunrise burns my bloodshot eyes.

Good day inmates!

There appears to be something of a break in the clouds this week! I’m feeling a fair bit better than I have the last two to three weeks. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’m not going to complain that’s for sure. Does it mean I’m going to develop a Christmas spirit and erect some poor pine tree? Hell no! I still despise this time of year and recent events have done nothing to dampen that belief. With that said, I’m hoping that others are finding joy in the holiday season, in whichever way they choose to celebrate it. I’m not a Grinch, honest! Ok maybe a little bit. But I’d never want to ruin the revelry of somebody else. I’m still very much not enjoying the colder weather, though it’s certainly been warmer than most Decembers in recent memory.

Anyways, let’s get on to the real meat of todays post eh? It’s time for the Harlequins writing music! No! I know what you’re thinking. There’s going to be absolutely no Christmas themed music in this or any other list. Bad inmates! Bad! Did anybody see the clue for todays musical theme? I thought it was a good one this week.

Let’s get on with it! Todays musical theme is sleep! Now sleeping is something I’m a big fan of. Yes I’m aware it’s necessary for a human to remain living, like food and water, but it’s almost a hobby for me. I do sleep perhaps an inordinate amount of time, but I don’t regret it for some reason. It’s just cosy and warm and dark and passes the time. You get the idea, I’m a slothful sod. It’s a pretty significant theme in music too. The very sensation of sleep or indeed struggling to get some rest have been subjects of songs on many occasions. On top of that, don’t ignore the possibility of dreams and nightmares. I’d say those are the subject of more songs than a great deal of other potential themes, barring love or joy. I feel this is one theme that I don’t really need to get too deep into for the simple fact that I’d imagine most people can easily see how sleeping can translate to song material. Let’s just see what I can come up with this week eh?

Please join me as we delve into the musical minds of tired artists the world over!

The Chordettes – Mr. Sandman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chordettes

The Cure – Lullaby
https://www.thecure.com/

Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
https://www.eurythmics.com/

All Time Low – Sleeping In
https://www.alltimelow.com/sleepwalking

Faithless – Insomnia
https://www.faithless.co.uk/

And there we have it! I must admit I’m feeling a little worn out after all that, how about you? I may be having an early night tonight after all. I hope that you all stay awake through this weeks choices and that you check out all of these very talented artists. You certainly shan’t be disappointed! Let me know what you think eh? It’d be cool to hear your opinions.

Speaking of opinions, I wouldn’t mind hearing yours about my social media pages too. Yes I know, that was a rubbish segue but I’m committed now. The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and for the time being at least, an account on Twitter as well. Please think about liking and following me over on those sites as well. I’ll include links here as always, but you can always find the addresses on my ‘Contact Me’ page above. Also, if you really enjoy what do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well! Thanks for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

I open my eyes,
Yet I still feel asleep,
Still walking in a pseudo-dream,
There is a gravity upon me,
Ballast on every limb and joint,

I know not why I wake,
The day holds no draw to me,
And the body concurs,
It rebels at every movement,
Moving in slow motion,

This is beyond tiredness,
This is a state of being,
A perpetual situation of weariness,
The fatigue has set in,
And I close my eyes once more.

The gloam comes,
And with it the ravages of the night,
The regrets and the nightmares,
The sweats and the guild-ridden fantasia,
And things in the periphery,
Despite the serenity of the scene,
My skull is a maelstrom,
The quiet is no comfort this eve,

But the firmament brings aid,
The clouds burst,
A million little saviours,
Sallying forth in torrents,
A soothing cacophony of blue,
Each impact a pyrrhic victory over the silence,
Every raindrop upon my window,
Like a lovers kiss goodnight.

Exhaustion haunts me,
A veil I struggle to remove,
An unwanted crown,
Bringing me low,
And holding me there,

It’s not that rest is rare,
Or sleep is elusive,
It’s that the repose is hollow,

I’m not talking energy levels here,
But the condition of a soul,
Bearing the weight of too many worlds,
Rightly or wrongly,
An exhausted spirit piloting a capable body.

They ask me why I sleep so much,
Do they not know?
Have they not seen the world?
The throes of its descent?

The night is an escape,
Sleep is a shroud,
An aegis of unconsciousness,
It protects the spirit in its nocturnal embrace,

As I snore,
The horrors of the world don’t exist,
The gripes of phantoms are inaudible,
And the stink of blight does not stir me,

Am I slothful?
Perhaps,
Yet I don’t sleep for fatigue,
It’s not so plain as that,

I sleep to not be awake.

Awakening halfway through the days life,
Wearied and jaded,
I rise only to fall again,
Starting the long journey to the floor,
I surrender myself to the stupor,
Limbs forced prone by fatigue,
Staring at the ceiling,
That grey vignette of tedium,
Reading stories in the cobwebs above,
The gravity grows in intensity,
I’m a prisoner of this rug,
Outside doesn’t exist,
There is no outside,
Only this cell of my own hearth.