Simak Poem 2
The loss of sleep over suspicion, or more so the affirmation of knowing what has been going on is the key point to the next poem in my path. It eats away at the very fiber of your being until there is no action left that can stop everything from coming down. The poem "The Man With the Night Sweats" by Thom Gunn is a very thorough journey down the path of laying motionless in bed with nothing but your thoughts. Everything is finally confirmed, and you are left feeling helpless.
The Man with Night
Sweats
BY THOM GUNN
I wake up cold, I who
Prospered through dreams of heat
Wake to their residue,
Sweat, and a clinging sheet.
My flesh was its own shield:
Where it was gashed, it healed.
The body I could trust
Even while I adored
The risk that made robust,
Each challenge to the skin.
I cannot but be sorry
The given shield was cracked,
My mind reduced to hurry,
My flesh reduced and wrecked.
I have to change the bed,
But catch myself instead
Hugging my body to me
As if to shield it from
The pains that will go through me,
As if hands were enough
To hold an avalanche off.
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