Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Preparing for what is to come
when I don’t know what is to come — 

I may be up early, barely awake
with sleeping no longer an option when

there ’s that much natural light
outside. Day starts, I start:

ready for nothing, ready for not
and I am the cartoon character face of not.

People say they love dawn and how 
it strokes them out of bed, 

pulls them into action. I might get
a second of that before dawn crushes me

with the weight of what’s coming. 
It’s always something. Even if it never

manifests obviously, it’s still there. 
Even if I never learn what it is, it hurts. 

If dawn never came again,
I’d be fine with that. Call me selfish

to say it, say I’m reckless to 
others, say I’m letting myself down;

I’m the advertising mascot
for a let down. It’s what I was 

born to be and now this campaign
has run its curse. Now I say me

down, and sleep. I don’t pray
for anything to anyone. If I rise

before I wake I’ll keep going
until there’s nothing left to take;

there is so little left 
as it is, light fingered dawn

may have it if it desires.
I’ll be fine with that.