Beware of doctors

Beware of doctors

Drugged sleep is nothing but a lousy deal
and cannot bring refreshment to the brain.
It’s like the restless rest you try to steal
on travelling some distance in a train.

You fall asleep at Paddington, and wake
at home. What happened to you in between
is forfeited, a surcharge that you’ve paid
for drifting off into a lazy dream.

It’s nothing like the long cool drench of sleep
you get after you’ve walked fifteen miles
and come home blistered, swollen-footed. Deep
in snoozing now you’ll lie, and bathed in smiles –

like a contented cat that naps all day
curled up in different spots about the house:
fitting reward for yesterday’s foray
into the night to murder that wee mouse.

Say “no” to any doctor who misleads
by forcing you into an eight-hour slumber!
The body knows best what the body needs.
It reckons by your tiredness, not by number.