Poetry: #73 A Bed Without Sleep (Demise 11)
And my thoughts after revisiting the words
A Bed Without Sleep
As I lay down at night I see the pores in the ceiling as if they were stars. Stars above a windy lake; the calm before the storm. I couldn’t imagine anything else but the atmosphere of night and all I want is more. I stay up, when my unconscious uncoils and roams the empty and it doesn’t take long to realize that the void was caused by a tragedy that has long been gone. If I were a man I would’ve let you go that night. Let the waters’ crisp waves wash away the feelings that I had, but instead I saw how we could be for a time before the storm would encompass us all. And it wasn’t long before the seagull saw the secret slip from my grasp. The knowledge that at long last I have found a reason to live and it could have been you. But the time we had fell away from me like the ocean’s current dragging your dead body back to me. It would be swift, and it would be slick; but that isn’t what Fate had in store.
What are your thoughts on this poem?
My Thoughts on Demise 11
The man is finally opening up to us. He is staring at the ceiling above his bed. He is seeing the pores as stars, a windy lake, and a storm on the horizon. He wants the night, and he is brooding, brooding about what happened. The narrator doesn’t believe he is a true man because of his actions. He could not let go of the person he was with. It is this thought that sinks the man into the past.
We realize that what seems like a metaphor that starts off the second stanza may be more fact than fiction. While it isn’t clear what exactly the man did, he blames himself for what happened to the other person. The birds in the sky knew what he had done. He believed, he knew, what reason he could’ve had to live, but time fell away and he is left with…a dead body.
Sometimes in life we find ourselves taken over by emotion, by desire, and we lose sight of what is real. Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in that emotion, we act rashly or harshly. It is normal to struggle with our feelings, and it is an important piece of growing up, maturing in general, to keep our feelings in check. Failure to do so can lead to destruction of friendships, loss of a job, damage to property, even loss of life. This man had the world in his hands, and before he knew it, his emotion had taken what he prized above all else. We must not be this man. We must keep our feelings in check.
Question Section
We’ve all acted rashly before and we’ve all let emotion push us to be harsh to others. When I was in high school, I would take my frustrations out on others, making them feel bad along with myself. I’ve also said things in the heat of the moment, without letting my emotions cool off or get under control. I’ve burnt bridges by doing this, and there’s no going back. When have you ever burnt a bridge? Have you ever rebuilt a bridge with a person you thought would never speak to you again? Feel free to tell the experience in the comment section so we can share the experience together.
I hear another poem is coming every Saturday!