Tristan Robert Lange

Should Sleep Spare

Today has been: waking up;

Cold-sweat seeping into damp sheets;

Dreadful dreams disquieting dreaded days;

Tension tightening the chest;

Knots—

Not knowing how to get them to stop—

Nauseous gasps of noxious air;

Nagging nerves on notice;

The livewire on the knife’s edge;

A jolting current carried continuously;

Tingles torturing the tormented

Taken through the terrible trenches of inner war—

A spiritual skirmish

Manifested by a linguistic lash—

A voraciously verbal visitant haunting

Boring itself into a battered, berated soul;

And tomorrow, should sleep spare:

It starts all over again.

© 2025 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.