I can’t sleep

I can’t sleep

I can’t sleep because

I see my life rushing past me

And all I do is stare like

An orb suspended in space.

I can’t sleep

Because I make love and feel nothing

There is no afterglow to bask in,

No cosy nook to bury my shame in;

Because I know that the hours spent in bed

Memorizing the turns of the cracks in the ceiling

Could be spent instead, in understanding the detailed

Structure of the molecules of random travels.

I can’t sleep because there are

So many things that I could be –

A revolutionary, a singer, a wandering writer

But all that I am is an average

Of the days, weeks, months, years

Spent in conforming to the monotone

Of routine.

I. Can’t. Sleep.