Elizabeth Spires
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SLEEPER
Dreamingly the spirit projects its own reality, but this
reality is nothing.
Touch
those that you love
only during sleep
when the woman sleeps
in her father 's hand
and the man curls into sleep
as a bone curls into flesh.
The sleeper will come
to you then, asking
nothing, carrying
bright empty packages
that belong to no one.
Within my arms he sleeps, safe
from himself, far from what hurts him.
Kierkegaard
We walk in the dark like children, hand-in-hand,
lay ourselves down in the thin white clothes
of exhaustion. I guard his sleep with mine,
guard sleeP's secrets by not moving.
Tell
no one what you did.
In
the morning hide desire 's
presen ts till it's nigh
t
again. They lie
by the bed unopened,
as if the gift of yourself
were enough to ease
the sleeper's dawn,
restore the dream, now
receding, that continues
without you or anyone.
