Vox Populi

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David Huddle: Parable of the 4 a.m. Demons

My mind yearns for sleep so innocently it refuses
the perverse truth of my relentless bladder
that threatens me with wetting the bed if I don’t
get up to pee three or four times a night, my achy
old knee can find no comfortable position, my badly 
 
designed nostril-sinus apparatus wants to smother me 
or else murder me by way of sleep apnea. Nightmares 
mostly leave me alone now that I’m nearly eighty, 
but fears and worries replaced them--my retirement funds
 
have disappeared, my credit cards are lost, the furnace 
is about to break, the pipes will freeze, some bad kids 
want to hurt my grandchildren, my wife has finally realized 
 
what a loser I am, she’ll call a lawyer today, the coffee 
maker will explode, and oh God we’re probably out of milk.
 

David Huddle’s books include My Surly Heart (LSU, 2019).

Copyright 2020 David Huddle

6 comments on “David Huddle: Parable of the 4 a.m. Demons

  1. Pamela Collett
    February 25, 2020

    Wait a minute in the middle of the night the indeterminate, indiscriminate demons do try to take hold but I tell them to get lost. And mostly they do. Pamela

    Pamela’s blogshttp://www.familyandfiction.com http://www.bettehutchisonsilver.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

  2. allisonfine
    February 25, 2020

    This I can relate to.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Michael
    February 25, 2020

    Yikes, it happens to all of us, David. Even us metaphors. If I were an actual person, I am sure I would feel it even more.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Vox Populi
    February 25, 2020

    Thanks, Sidney!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. sidney wade
    February 25, 2020

    Brilliant!!! My 78 year old partner identifies with every single word here!!!! xxoo

    Liked by 1 person

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