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.” )