So, the baby has decided to celebrate the milestone of his first birthday by returning to sleeping like a newborn. Possibly even worse than one.
He had his jabs last week (a nasty triple-whammy of MMR, Meningitis and some other nasty virus) and he’s got a cold AND he’s teething so perhaps terrible sleep is to be expected but urgh. And bleurgh. I am crap with sleep deprivation. I am not one of those sunny ‘ah well, never mind, he’s only a baby’ types. I sulk and moan. I’m a grump.
But anyway, I digress… in the dark hours of the long, arduous night last night, I wrote this poem. I can’t pretend it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, although frankly, even if it was, I wouldn’t know as I’ve lost all… you know… what ever that stuff is that makes you able to understand and judge things…
Here it is (and I think you can tell I was fed up of it being night!):
The darkest hour
Molten moonlight drips
through silhouettes of trees.
Dazzled darkness trips
and tumbles to its knees.
Stolen sunlight slips
from fraying bonds and flees,
chasing nightmares out before it,
spreading sunbeams in its wake.
NB – I wrote most of this post on Wednesday evening and posted it on Thursday morning. In between, the baby actually SLEPT and when I woke up I changed a few key words of the poem. I think it works better than it did. Still not sure though.
Linking up with Prose for Thought over at Verily Victoria Vocalises.
I think this is lovely and I love your choice of words. Greta poem and glad you got a bit more sleep x #prose4t
Thank you! I only wish he’d slept again last night!
I think this gives a strong image both of the night and of the lack of sleep! Loved the first two lines especially. Hope things settle back to normal soon x
‘molten moonlight’ appeared in my head and the poem went from there – but that is my favourite part too! Thanks Sarah.
Great poem, I wish I could write this well when sleep deprived. Wow. #Prose4T
Thanks Morgan! It’s nice to try and get something out of the horrible sleep-deprived feeling!
Feeling your pain – sleep deprivation is truly hellish,
Love the alliteration in your poem
I love a bit of alliteration. Thanks Kate.
Oh lovely, I feel your sleep deprivation. I love ‘Molten moonlight drips’ – its perfect. Here’s hoping this is a blip and he will soon be in la la land for a good solid 8 hours xx
8 hours sleep would be wonderful! Thanks for the support on the sleep and the writing.
Beautiful poem. I love the ending as there is positivity there! I hope the sunbeams will chase your baby’s nightmares away.
Thank you. Yes, the idea behind the poem was to end on a positive note. I don;t think it’s very clear but I kind of had the idea that ‘night time’ was the bad guy who’d stolen the daylight and then the moon came to the daylight’s rescue and dazzled the dark allowing the day to run away and spread light everywhere. i was so sick of endless hours of night when I wrote it!
loved the flow of the poem… beautiful #prose4T
Thank you!
Sleep deprivation is a killer, isn’t it… I know exactly what you mean about ‘losing all that stuff’ that helps you sort the wheat from the chaff, but that said the creative pebbles you find in the wee hours (whichever side of the night you find yourself awake and for whatever reason) often turn out to be diamonds in the rough. A bit of time and distance and a final polish and MY how they shine! #Prose4T
I love ‘dazzled darkness trips and stumbles to it knees’ – that reminds me of the walking in quicksand feeling I have when I have not slept well. Hope the night shift improves soon x
Fabulously written – as always. I know what Helen means too – fuzzy head feeling. Thank you for linking to Prose for Thought x