The endless night (sleep apnoea)

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



I lie awake the endless night
And try to sleep without success,
My breathing comes so haltingly
I'm in such deep distress.

The night-time seems eternity
Barely broken by my dreamless sleep,
Night creatures fill my worried mind
As round the house my cats do creep.

I feel fatigued all through the day
Yet in the night I lie awake,
Although I drowse from time to time
My great weariness cannot be slaked.

The clock torments with endless ticking
Yet the alarm will not resound,
Although I lie awake an forever
The daylight will not come around.

The night is like a creeping death
The Lord has sent to torment me,
My blindness lasts eleven hours
Then with a new day I can see.

I cling to daylight futilely
In hope of keeping away the night,
But all too soon I’m on my back
A victim again of my weary plight.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on April 30, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
4

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCB CDXD XXXA XEXE XCXC CAXA XXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 851
Words 161
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

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