Sleep

This tiny sleep that comes tonight

will last only the hours until the light.

But waiting in the shadows patiently

is a sleep of not less than eternity.

Does dread drum this heart beating inside?

Mayhaps, but knowing the coming of that tide

 soothes a soul that aches without relief...

a soul weary of this world and filled with grief.

Infirmity knits my every bone without relent.

My knees are crying, my legs, my back is bent.

Long a secret I have known intimately,

there is worse than death inevitably.