Morpheus

BOUGHS BREAK

Go to sleep. 

Sometimes sleep

is the only place

left

to go.

Let’s go to sleep.

They’re going to sleep.

night

slips through

gossamer wings

(Just one of those things…Cole Porter)

Metamorphosis

We become the place.

He’s asleep

so is she

They are asleep.

As in all things

we

are alone

the symbol is “O”

the number is “1”

THE MILITARY AND SLEEP

As a trainee in boot camp I was so tired that if I wasn’t engaged in a physical activity I would fall right asleep.  I slept through lectures on hygiene, the care and assembly of various weapons, the Universal Code of Military Justice, etc.

A few of us were able to sleep while standing in formation.  Some of us fell over.

According to Article 113 of the Universal Code of Military Justice, falling asleep on duty may be considered dereliction of duty.  Punishment can include sanctions up to and including the death penalty (in times of war.)  

The Army takes staying awake very seriously.

The Army taught me how to sleep anywhere.

SOMETIMES YOU CAN’T GET THERE

Drink

Surf

Read

Fret

Pace

Weep

Ambien likewise Silanor likewise Lunestra likewise Sonata etc like that

It’s been said that no one has ever died from lack of sleep, but, unfortunately, members of the Roeter family of La Serenissima have suffered insomnia unto death – fatal familial insomnia.  Unable to speak, or to walk, though conscious ‘till the end, they fall into a comatose state of fatal exhaustion.  

Once, when I was a boy, I sat at my bedroom window for as long as I could trying to catch insomnia.  I thought it would be a wonderful thing to never sleep, and it would make me special.

As an adolescent I thought staying up all night was the ultimate victory.

As an older drunk I thought greeting the dawn was an accomplishment.

TAKING REST

You may rest

without sleeping

You may sleep  

without resting

Sleep may prove elusive

rest even more so.

I would spend Saturday’s in Frankfurt.  I’d drink beer, eat street food, go to the opera, and sleep.  On a few occasions I slept through whole operas, including intermissions.  I never felt rested, only hung-over.

THE FOLLOWING HAVE OCCUPIED SLEEP

A Weary Hobo

Guardian Angels

Irene

Mr. Sandman

You

Me

Bob Dylan

A Black Horse – Caballo Negro

Dead People

Joe Hill

A Dog Driving a Convertible

Various Witches

Silver Spaceships

LOCATIONS FOR SLEEP

Locations for sleep

can be easily divided

into good, and bad.

Some good places to sleep are:

Your own bed

Your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s bed

A sleeping bag under the stars

The back seat when you’re ten years old

Your mom’s arms likewise your dad’s likewise your grandma’s etc like that

The couch on a rainy afternoon
The couch on a rainy afternoon with a cat on your belly

A boat – gently rocking

(I have slept in all those places.)

Some bad places:

The back seat when you’re thirty

A doorway

A snowbank

Behind a dumpster

A hospital room

The gutter

Behind the couch

Your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s front yard

Behind the wheel of a moving vehicle

Any place that when you wake up you don’t know where you are, or how you got there.

I have slept in all those places.  I have never had a problem sleeping.

 

Natalie  Shau

LULLABIES COME WITH

Wolves

Giants

Judas

Storms

The Bogeyman

Jesus

A Face at the Window

Goats

Crows

Black Eagles

Stupid Fathers

Ghost Cats

Murderous Mothers

Your Own Corpse, or Your Head on a Post

Nota Bene:  Brain cells produce waste.  When we sleep, the waste is flushed out of our brains.  Or, in the words of Dr. Jeffrey Illiff:  After decades of uncertainty about cerebrospinal fluid movement in the brain, we finally know which way the wind is blowing.  (You don't need a weatherman...Dylan)

PRAYERS BEFORE SLEEP INCLUDE

Keep my soul; take my soul

Wrath on the powers of witchcraft

Fury upon the agents of affliction

Panic and havoc on those who would cause disgrace

Death to the arrows of evil delay

Scatter the clouds of darkness likewise the satanic court

Burn the child of darkness likewise the garments of reproach

Release my money
Gimme, gimme, gimme.

(I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine...  Boudleaux Bryant)

DEITIES & DEMONS

Phobetor

Phantasos

Hypnos

Morpheus

Breksta

Somnus

Incubus

Succubus

Dab Tsog

Baku

Mara

Alp

Nocnitsa

Pesanta

Trauco

(Guardian angels around my bed/Standing by till I rise/There's one with shining wings that holds my hand/And shows me Paradise...  Gerda Beilenson/Harpo Marx)

DANGER

It is not unusual to die while asleep. It is unusual to die while sleep-walking, but it has occurred.  In rare cases, a person could fall out of bed, hit her head, and die.

HOW ONE SLEEPS

Like a log

Like a cat

Like a dream in a grave (1)

Deeply

Fitfully

Like a rock

Like an old dog

Like wrecks in the unfathomed main (2)

Like a baby

Like the dead­­­­­

Like a caterpillar sheathed in ice (3)

With one eye open

(1)   A.J. Ryan

(2)  Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(3)  William Wordsworth

ASLEEP WE MAY BE AFFLICTED BY

Night sweats

Leg cramps

Thirst

Terrors

I was six years old.  I slept in my own room.  One night I opened my dream eyes/sleep eyes and saw the monster - a huge, squat shadow with glowing eyes.  I rolled to the wall that bordered one side of my bed, and pushed so hard to get away that I wedged myself between the wall and the bed.  I must have been calling out.  My auntie came into the room and comforted me.  I woke for barely a moment, saw the monster bureau against the other wall, and fell back asleep.

We slept so deeply before we were born.

RW

Seattle

5.11.2018