Sleepwalking
Tonight I want to say something wonderful
for the sleepwalkers who have so much faith
in their legs – Edward Hirsch
Faith, with its extravagant acts,
at home in the darkness,
is out of fashion nowadays. Not because
we’re all in love with science. Even
to be in love with science
takes faith. But because nihilism
is more the rage—between splinters
of attention—and it takes
so much concentration to linger
in the blank spaces we might fill
with our misgivings, such trust
to let a thirsty heart fly from our chest.
What’s true is we’re alive. Irrefutable.
A mass of energy, of light and heat—
tugged down by our feet and gravity, spilling
out from the top of our heads—
and isn’t that something? I’m sorry
it took me so long to figure it out.
Sleepwalkers don’t really stand a chance
today, sleep clinics cropping up
with the persistence of artillery fire. Instead
of crossing the skin of another life, I imagine
them—startled and confused—as their
bodies hit the floor.
First appeared in I-70 Review, Fall 2022
