One pencil
A little piece of paper
Stand between
Me and sleep

Hypnos pursues
My trusty pencil
Fights to
Keep him off.

The paper
Patiently bears
My scribblings
Hypnos still pursues

The mind staggers
‘Neath the weight
Of heavy slumber
And yet, I fight…

The monotone
Drags me under
The mire of sleep
Blessed sleep.

No lullaby
Worked so well
As Shakespeare
Taught so ill.

Cato and Strato
Voluminus and Lucilius
Pass before me
In a hazy dream.

And the Ghosts Of Caesar and
Of Shakespeare
Collectively groan
No Opiate was
Or is as powerful
As this ordeal
Making one drowsy.

Sinking into the depths
Of deep and mighty Slumber, I
Struggle. Futility.

Chloroform and Laughing gas
Are great
But greater still
Is Shakespeare class.

Here shall I stop.
The time is come
To give up the fight
And accept fate.