October 2021 Flash Lit 4: Early to Bed

Early to Bed

 

The day’s eye weighs on the horizon,

red, tired, heavy.

I should be working—

there are dishes and boxes,

words and messes.

The long ache of muscle

and the dull pain of thoughts

pull me instead to bed, but

there is no rest there.

I can’t wrestle the sheet

and win, much less

the hot and tangled dreams.

I rise up in the dark to start again.