Poem: I Do Not Know How Long It Is Since I Slept

I Do Not Know How Long It Is Since I Slept

or, since my sleep was real, was sleep,
was not falling and rising
without any real rest.  I rise
as if I am waking from another day,
just accepting the morning
as the time to return, to get up
from the place called bed.
The doctor is trying to help,
to get the right treatment,
better treatment. She says
I spend the night close to death,
falling towards it.  Sleep
is suffocation, is breathless,
waking is the deep gasp,
and my heart, I hope
will be alright,
will survive more nights of this:
I do not know how long it will be
until I can sleep again.

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