New moon and solar eclipse tonight. Also my birthday!
I wanted to gift myself a good night's sleep. I prepared for it with a high dose of melatonin, a cold and dark bedroom, a couple of hours without screens before bed time and a nice hot chamomile tea, but it's now 2am and I haven't slept a wink.
For those of you who don't know, I have a sleeping disorder called DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome). My particular case is considered severe on the spectrum. It started when I was about 8 and it grew since then with pervasiveness.
I've spent so much of my life tiptoeing in the dark while my parents and partners slept. I would say that most of my poetry and creative writing happened exclusively at night.
Tonight (maybe still day time for some of you) I present you a poem about this very fact.
After dark
I don't want to close my eyes
if the moon is smiling
and staring at the sky
doesn't make me blind
when my mind fluoresces
from between the shadows
let me stay awake
and lay bare with the night
sleep is for the worn
I am still intact