Somnambulist

Never enough sleep
But I've got sleep in my eyes
     All the time
And I'm walking; left-right-left
          turned on my head
          and stepping blind

And I get swallowed by the night
          sometimes,
when "then" and "now" start blurring lines
and daylight looks the same as
                           star-flecked skies--
          when I forget what day it is
          and daydreams swim in wine.

I know I'll clean my plate,
     but when it's time to push in chairs?
...?

I remember age 16
     like it was yesterday
--A yesterday from a decade ago--
                     I'm growing old

But I'm the same way, now
     cold hands
     quaking knees
On shaky ground
     each night
with less to lose
more to gain
whispering "please"
     on frosted breath to no one.

Then again, some nights...

Don't feel so alone at all.
     --Though I get swallowed
                      by the night--
     --Though I got sleep in
                      my eyes--
     --All the time--
    --Sometimes--
A decade's like one minute

So Lewis, Marion,
     Dow and Highland,
Streets like lines
          in chapters of old books
(Delphi, Red Fox, North Heights,
              Burkitt, Brooks)
Look just like sweating summers,
             shivering winters,
Falls and Springs
           piling up between the pages
         Don't like the view from on the shelf.