Insomnia

My thoughts and the minutes drag past,

The cars of an impregnable freight train

Stopped on the tracks between the all-night café

And the darkened windows of suburbia

---

With a rumble of amusement the locomotive blows

And the pursuit of my darkest affection flashes by my cabin window

A stewardess offers me coffee but I say I’d rather have Night-quil

She laughs professionally and walks away.

---

Crisscrossing the continent of my dreams

Delving deep between cloud-banded mountains, my thoughts

Field the moon’s glare through the blinds

A long deserted stretch and it’s my stop at last

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The moon clambers stoically through the Van Gogh night

I look into its crater-filled orb orbiting endlessly

As I start to fade away under the patchwork quilt I say,

“Moon, you’ve got some dark circles under your eyes.

Maybe you should get some sleep.”