Poem #09

(a) Slip (b) Sleep (c) Head (d) Light (e) Freeze (f) Death.

Running down to the water, I slip.
Running back to my bed, I sleep.
When I slipped I fell down and hit my head.
When I closed my eyes they emptied the light.
I slept on the ground outside and began to freeze.
I slept on my bed in the wake of my death.

I woke to surprise when I didn't find my death.
I thought it was all over after the slip,
and the time I had spent outside beginning to freeze.
I realized that it wasn't my turn to sleep.
I realized that it wasn't my turn to greet the light.
After I slipped and fell and hit my head.

It happened in the morning, the rock dug into my head.
Anyone who saw it would have known it was death.
Anyone who saw it would have thought the light
was coming to greet my after the slip.
I drifted back to my bed in my mind to sleep.
I drifted down to the water to freeze.

My body grew rigid and began to freeze.
The ice grew over me from my toes to my head.
In my mind I was simply in my bed ready to sleep.
And when I woke I was ready to accept death.
All of my thoughts were beginning to slip.
I crawled to the switch and turned on the light.

I flicked the switch, and on came the light.
I looked out the window and saw that the water had begun to freeze.
I wondered, is that what caused me to slip?
How had I fallen, and hit my head?
What would be the cause of my death?
What would begin my descent into eternal sleep?

The next night I began to try and sleep.
I couldn't close my eyes until I turned out the light.
I couldn't empty my mind of that experience, near death.
And then the thought hit me, and I began to freeze.
Was that what I hit?  My head?
Is that what I did?  Slip?

The fall didn't cause my death, the water didn't freeze.
I did not sleep, I kept on the light.
I didn't hit my head, I didn't slip.