Sleeping in Paradise

I wake up to ambulance sirens,
fires,
gang shootings,
(children s.c.r.e.a.m.i.n.g. for hope).
I wake up to dead end dreams
and eviction notices.
I wake to whiskey and cocaine
-anything to take the pain away-
I wake to my parents telling me
what a failure I am
/for thinking I can be better than them/
I wake to tears streaming down my face;
I wake and feel a hole in my heart,
filled with darkness and filth
(my soul is stained in sin)
I wake to random lovers,
none of them making me feel what you did.
But when I sleep,
I sleep in paradise.

Because there,
I'm with you,
and you make everything alright.