Snooze News

Experience has taught me that everyone is good at something.  I marvel at the amazing talents possessed by family members, friends, and students.  And though I hesitate to brag, most who know me well will agree, that I . . . am an excellent sleeper.  I look forward to sleep more than most.  Rarely do I toss and turn.  You might say I'm blessed.  My head hits the pillow, and I am gone.  I might awaken at 1:00 and 3:00, but I don't consider this a problem.  I acknowledge the hour and rejoice that there is additional sleep time remaining before my alarm will sound.  I always fall back to sleep.  (Some say it's a clear conscience that allows this.)  Okay, I'm gifted.  I'm a great napper, too.  Just this afternoon I managed to sleep for three hours.  This, is where the giftedness comes in.  I will still be able to sleep tonight. 

Now, before my post puts you to sleep, let me get to my point.  My precious slumber is being compromised.  Perhaps yours has been too.  I blame Brian Williams, for he was the first to report the disturbing news.  Bedbugs.  At first I wasn't too concerned.  They were in New York.  And then, they began to report outbreaks other places.  This week, Tennessee.  I received a package in the mail on Wednesday?  Could there be . . .?  I brought a bag home from the mall last weekend.  Do you think there were . . .? 

So, while lying awake pondering possible pests, I was inspired to write the poem, Snooze News.  Enjoy.

Snooze News

The evening news has filled my head

With thoughts of doom and a sense of dread.

No, not the approach of a hurricane

Nor the jobless rate that’s higher again;

Suspected terrorists I’ve learned to accept

It’s something else that recently crept

Into my thoughts and made a nest.

It’s wreaking havoc on my rest

I don’t leave home, no hotel stays;

What happened to the good old days?

Since Brian Williams reported these,

I greet repose with dread and unease.

Oh, blessed moment when I crawl beneath

Eight hundred thread count Egyptian sheets

And stretch my legs and rest my head

And thank the Lord for a clean, fresh bed

Has now become a moment of fear

And Brian’s words ring in my ear

And when I lay me down to sleep

I’m praying that those bedbugs keep

Out of my house and away from me

It’s worth an exorbitant exterminator fee

To rest assured when I say goodnight

They’ll be no bedbugs there to bite.