Sleep Deprivation Poem

It was ‘most eleven when, I retired the caps of teacher and mother

Climbed into bed next to my husband, who only sighed, and

Rewarded myself with another night’s sleep

The dog howled at midnight, insisting upon a trip outside

Some child was up, ushering in the witching hour,

When she emerged a conversation, then back to bed

Then, the familiar insistent whine tears open the night at 2:50,

Dad’s cue to dress in the dark and stumble to the kitchen

I can only mumble, “Love you, hun,” and fall back to sleep

But soon the dog shatters the night again for me and the neighbors

A few moments after three, with a single echoing “arfff”

Punctuated by desperate whining, the kind that won’t stop

‘Til he is let out, and back I stumble to bed,

But, O!, at 4:30, he woofs to gain admittance again

And I’m up, resigned to writing poems in the dark