Asleep

Asleep

You wish to sleep but you’re rarely awake
Nodding flatly at each phrase I repeat
Refusing to speak of what I can’t:
Love’s hiding deep in our chests
Quiet and shy like you once were

I watch you nights as
Silver-lashed eyes flutter in morse code
Dreaming stories we jointly wrote
Tales you say you can’t recall

But in my sharp dreams you wake in joy
Happy without reason
Sprinting and smiling as you race towards the beach

Before dawn your chest swells like that surf
Thick foam curling below castles of sand
Proud fortresses we built on our knees
Where you said we’d live if we ever turned old

You fall asleep in one world
Wake in another