And so it begins...

Sleep escapes me again
Like last night, and the night before
The hours click by
1 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 3...
I lurk upstairs, smoke my cancer stick
My poisonous addiction
In hopes to cure the sleeplessness
That I have wrestled with for over a week now
I say goodnight to the one I love
Hoping just once
He'd offer to talk me to sleep
But how could he?
Unaware of how empty I am inside
A shell of my former self
Walking like a shadow
Day in, and day out
I smile, I laugh
I watch blurred images
Scamper across the screen
4 o'clock...
I wake up early
In the hopes of killing the routine
Of staying up so late
My dreams haunt me
Waking me from a happy nap
And leading me into deeper hours of the night
Again.
5 o'clock
I hear the footsteps above
And I know I've done it again
My day will be ruined
For I will sleep through half of it
And mope somberly through the rest
I beg, I pray
As the tears slide down my face
That just this once
I will be tired
My eyes will blink slowly
As my head rests upon the pillow
Into dream land I will go
Only to be awoken
By images I don't want to see
6 o'clock
The sound of her heels clicking
Across the wood floors
Back and forth
Until I am awake, again
Praying to be tired, sleepy, dreary
Is there a hotline?
1-800-bedtimestories?

Someone, anyone,
Talk me to sleep
Tell me of the pleasantries
I'll see in my dreams
Make a princess
In a castle so high
With a dragon for protection
That my prince must fight
Golden, long hair
With a robust, healthy frame
He'll call to my window
So I will let down my mane
He'll climb to the top
Just to rescue me
And hide away in my castle,
Just my prince,
And sleepy, little, me.