I'm sleep-drunk--stumbling.
no, I'm sleep-starved,
mumbling through a murk-filled mind,
borrowing time from the possibilities of tomorrow,
stripping away my sharpest thought
          to reveal only
          mud.

I'm sleep-shrunk--resigned
to wade through,
eyes closed heart slowed.
to claw through,
mind bent on bending and dropping and sliding between sheets--alone.
the phone slips from my hand and out into the world,
untethered from my sleep-starved flesh,
untethered from a need to stare,
to beat in time with the digital clock ticks,
with the pixels as they glow and swirl.

slide the pillow under my wilting head--
I know you want to,
I can see it in your sleep-sunk eyes,
          stripped away they reveal only
          daisies.

stripped away we reveal only 
          stumbling
          starved
          minds
curving in toward each other,
drunk and sliding between sheets,
drunk and sliding past--alone.

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