Since I was a little girl, I’ve been a night owl.
I like to stay up, reading, writing, thinking late into the night.
And I am the living worst to have to get up early in the morning.
Today marks my 14 year anniversary as a nurse and I’ve always preferred night shift in my work life as well.
Since I’ve been dealing with illness, my pain is even less at night.
As I’ve been spending much time bedbound recently, I’ve been doing a great deal of reading (I hate the stuck in bed part; I adore the reading), including poetry, which I love dearly but often overlook in the busyness of day to day life.
And I came across this poem, that I love so much I just have to share:
The Sleepless Ones
What if all the people
who could not sleep
at two or three or four
in the morning
left their houses
and went to the parks
what if hundreds, thousands,
millions
went in their solitude
like a stream
and each told their story
What if there were
old women
fearful if they slept
they would die
and young women
unable to conceive
and husbands
having affairs
and children
fearful of failing
and fathers
worried about paying bills
and men
having business troubles
and women unlucky in love
and those that were in physical
pain
and those who were guilty
What if they all left their houses
like a stream
and the moon
illuminated their way and
they came, each one
to tell their stories
would these be the more troubled
of humanity
or would these be
the more passionate of this world
or those who need to create to live
or would these be
the lonely
ones
And I ask you
if they all came to the parks
at night
and told their stories
would the sun on rising
be more radiant and
again I ask you
would they embrace.
– Lawrence Tirnauer
This one has easily made my top 5 favorite poems list. And prompted me to dig through my library for some of my poetry books that I haven’t gotten around to reading.
As for the rest of my night, I’ve been working on my oil business and also looking at some ideas for next month because I realized that, just as some scary words like “disabled” (in terms of my ability to do floor nursing) are starting to enter the picture, I’ll be able to start seeing health coaching clients in September.
Rather than panic, I believe there is greater timing at play here and it will all work out.
Onward.
Be well, everybody.
Love and light. 💜❤️💙💚💛
the autoimmune hippie. 