I may not be asleep

Almost as if to compensate

for the delicate fragility of life

or the deer like deft fleet-footedness of days and years that leap and run so swiftly through our lives

the brain decides to stay awake at some unearthly hour to let me hear the low, slow 

crawl of seconds through the night..

And this is your heart.

Did you feel the syncopated beat?

And now the red tide rises as the

blood runs down your

arteries and veins.

Thankyou but I’d rather sleep.

And now a second heartbeat. And a second tide

to reach down all the rivers to your fingers and your toes.

Are you ready for the third?

Inside, the stalking fears; the what ifs, whens and why. Outside, night noises that I never normally hear.

Through the secret hours of night cats creep, moths sip nectar in the dark,owls tune voices to the moon;

The big earth, tossing slowly in its sleep, turns towards the morning sun.

Then I read between the lines of thought, the bubbling restlessness of head and heart the anxious circling vulture thoughts with which I strive...

I may not be asleep but, yes,I’m very much alive.

Alistair McNaught