depression- a plea for sleep, a poem

i just want to sleep

i know that’s not the healthy thing to do

but it’s what i want

i want to curl up in my bed

pull the blanket over my head

and sleep until the sorrow is gone

my eyelids are so heavy

my shoulders feel the physical weight of my problems

my hips and back ache

the muscles in my face don’t seem to be working

i can’t use them to smile

or tell you what i need

sometimes they twist into a scowl that i’m not conscious of making

i need to do things

i just can’t make myself

i can’t will myself into acting normal

because i don’t feel normal

i feel like i’m drowning

under a barrage of attack waves

never catching my breath

i just want to let them lull me peacefully to sleep

i don’t want to talk

i can’t even listen

just give me peace

let me sleep