SLEEPING SICKNESS
I stopped sleeping in October.
My sleep has always been deep and restful,
but in October I stopped sleeping.
I didn’t sleep for one night.
I didn’t sleep for two nights,
and then I didn’t sleep for three nights.
Between October and March,
I took sleeping pills and went to a therapist.
I would wake in the night, in terror,
unable to breathe.
It’s possible that I might
have been molested
by a close relative
when I was five.
I don’t remember.
I can hardly believe it.
I only know that between
October and March
I stopped sleeping,
and in April my sleep was again
deep and restful
and nourishing.
