Nocturnal Nutrition

From fighting against sleep to fighting for sleep.

In youth, yawns are a battle cry. Having the spirit to use a sobbing voice and resist going quietly into the night. Holding, grasping, clawing at rails built for safety. The cribs which seem like gentle cages. Gatekeepers with the best of intentions despite the restless and unpredictable waking. 

Yet as we grow older... a wild spirit is possible. Strength, maturity, and might enable us to do anything; to actually go without sleep. Becoming our own gatekeepers without limits. Roaming free and slumbering wherever we may fall. In the beds of strangers or anywhere else away from home.

That is unless conviction or old age imprisons a person. Systems built with curfew and lights out periods designed for structure. Cribs designed for elders. Supervised by mandate. While characters, previously innocent, fade away. Sleeping by someone else's schedule. 

Former personalities which we try to rehabilitate toward societies desired specifications. In a retirement community, the equivalent of minimum security lockup. Grinding work leaving folks without freedom, empty and powerless. This is true of those who are cared for and those providing.

Forcing decisions about whom will care for who. A staff to provide the humility lost. Families who struggle with losing who someone was. For criminal and cerebral reasons we are disappointed. We lose our sleep worrying about what was and what will be. 

An entire class of people against themselves. Starving for the chance to wander. But, they lack the means. Working over themselves and life's commitments barely able to rest in between. They battle to get rest. An everyday schedule at war with the energy level to feel comfortable. 

As children there's little appreciation for all of the chances to snooze quietly. With age there's a necessity to find a balance of waking up satisfied, devoting ourselves to being the best person for ourselves and those around us. Finding the mix of pillow time is worth the struggle.

A mental place worth finding a bed to replenish. Opposite motivation than many who will medicate abusing their body as a vessel. Sleeping and resting in excess to numb. The reckless consciousness that destines our future rest in the hands of another. Rest on the way to finality.

Purchased locations for our remains; a final resting place of our choice. In our innocence we can wander, but rest like vagabonds. Though unclean minds may forfeit our sleep schedule to captivity. No matter how far the fences are... warm energy recharges us until there is no more.