Dreams of Insomnia

For hours I stare at the ceiling  
And listen to high heels pacing back and forth  
Like a gigantic clock ticking at double speed.  
My wife is lucky enough  
To have a hearing aid she can turn off,  
And immediately falls asleep.  

I get out of bed a few times  
And grab a broom and hit the ceiling so hard  
I think I might poke a hole right through.  
Maybe then she would get one of her heels  
Stuck in that hole and be forced to stop pacing  
And maybe even go to sleep for once in her life.  

Finally, I work up the courage  
To go up there and settle this  
And get my sanity back.  
I grab my cane and begin to climb,  
Up the dimly-lit, off-white steps.  

I reach the top, my forehead pulsing and fingers tingling;  
I have been patient for so long  
But I can’t take it one more second.  
I throw the padded side of my hand  
Against the door and it swings open violently  
Crashing into the wall behind it.  

I freeze where I am and stare  
Shocked and frightened  
At the dark and empty room.  
I take a few steps inside  
And the door closes slowly behind me  
Creaking as if it were a hundred years old.  

A shadow rushes in from the left  
And stops square in front of the door  
Towering over me.  
“Come back to bed Hun!”  
The shadow hisses at me and  
Suddenly the room spins and I’m falling.  

A sideways bedroom comes into focus  
The soft carpet tickles my face  
And I slowly recognize the familiar furniture of my room.  
In the bed on the other side of the room  
Is my wife with eyebrows scrunched  
Understanding but still worried.  

I use the chair next to me  
To slowly rise from the floor,  
The arthritis tearing through my legs.  
I smile in my wife’s direction  
And exhale again as my head droops  
Returning my gaze to the floor.  
“Go back to sleep Love,” I say quietly   
As I shuffle out of the room  
And the door clicks into place behind me.  

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/4j7qsj/confession/
https://oc.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/4iwku3/480/