On Sleep

Our house has a guest room. It's downstairs. It's quiet, warm and dark. I crawled into bed in that room yesterday afternoon and fell asleep. I slept until this morning. Again today I went down there and went to bed. I slept until evening. I want to go back and spend the night down there. It's like time stops when I'm sleeping there. Life stops. Not like when I'm sleeping in my bed upstairs. When I'm sleeping in my bed, I hear Kara snoring. I hear Luken whimper. I hear the dogs sleeping. I feel the cats crawling over me. I hear the truck that delivers the morning paper drive down my street. I hear the neighbor come home and leave again in the middle of the night. When I wake up after sleeping in my bed, I feel like I'm coming from the grey into the day. When I wake from sleeping downstairs though, I feel like I come through the void, through the silence into wakefulness. Sleeping in the dark warm quiet has an addictive quality about it. I NEED it! I MUST have more of it! If you can't find me upstairs, look in the guest room. It will be warm and dark and quiet and I will be there. Sleeping. Truly deeply sleeping as I haven't slept in years.

HBK