Sleep Is A Dream

Sleep is a dream, too good to be true

Because I am a Mom of not just one but two.

For those parents of three I shudder to think

Of how brief their shut-eye – the span of a blink?

If not one then the other. If by chance they both snooze,

My body’s forgotten just what it should do.

I lie awake staring, growing even more tense;

I know all too well that the peace will soon end.

From the moment of birth until now four years on,

It’s been work through the day and a job all night long.

I’ve tried everything – read five books or more,

Ferberized while they cried, and camped out on the floor.

I am so tired now. It’s all that I know.

My patience is thin, my body moves slow.

I try to carve out some time for my spouse;

When he speaks, sleep is all that I’m thinking about.

It’s become an obsession, a fix I can’t get –

It’s dragging me down, I can’t focus or think.

Is this the best that it gets? This is life as a mother?

A string of hangovers, one after the other?

I love my kids dearly, they’re the reason I live,

But at the price of my sleep I don’t have much to give.

So I’ll slog through the day, enjoy second winds,

And hope that tonight, my new life begins.

I’ve hoped that before, yet it goes on and on.

To sleep through the night is for other kids’ Moms.

I don’t sleep well or much, not nearly enough.

My kids don’t sleep either, and it’s all the more rough.

I know that there’s more, for them and for me.

We can have much more joy, so much more “joie de vivre.”

The life in my head I am too tired to lead.

Will my kids ever know the fun, boisterous “real" me?

For now I put one foot in front of the other

And hope that a new path I soon will discover:

To tuck my sweet ones into bed with a kiss,

As we all drift off fast to a full night’s sleep bliss.

And wake with eyes bright, full of wonder and magic,

Greeting each day like an artist’s blank canvas.

I want that for me, for my children of course,

An end to the stream of emotion outbursts.

To be one of those families hand-in-hand on the beach,

Not corralling their kids or dragging their feet.

Or the ones in the park full of giggles and smiles,

Running after kids like they could do that for miles.

Sleep is a dream? Too good to be true?

It’s happened for them, maybe one day, me too.

Inspired by comments from the parents I meet who have suffered months or years of sleep deprivation, and yes, my own experience too. I want to help every one of them.

Sleep is possible for every child, every family.