Conflict - 1 : Work or Sleep
C O N F L I C T
A series of Poems by Mr Damian Robin
1 : WORK OR SLEEP
TO ZHOU YAN, ALSO CALLED ANGEL, AFTER A
VERY SHORT AUDIO MESSAGE
CONVERSATION
I spoke just now : was hardly heard :
I feel the deep sea moves of time :
My words came out absurdly slurred :
I’ll write their sense in rythmed rhyme :
My body’s tired ( that word’s like “tied” :
Roped in, rigged up, not free :
And, further out, it sounds like “tide” :
The strong push-pull of world-wide sea.
To swim across deep waves of “tired”
I need the buoyancy of sleep :
But coil conflicted : tensely mired
In stress and promises to keep :
This keeps me up : I start to sway :
Before I fall : get too unfit :
I’ll take to heart what wise ones say :
“To see the big view, sleep on it.” )
