Mother's Lament

A humorous poem

Once upon a time, I lay a-bed and slept.

I slept and slept till could sleep no more…

Slept till wakened by my lover’s kiss.

To sleep, per chance to dream…

Sleep, glorious sleep, sleep, sleep!

Sleep deprived, too old to nap…

Oh to revel and lie a-bed…

To sleep till slept enough…

To roll over and sleep some more…

Just… just because I can.

Sigh. To sleep through the night…

Not be woken by patter of feet,

Clonk and jangle of the door’s rattle.

To wake to the day's bright sun!

Oh to sleep past the dayspring!

To lie a bed till well past dawn!

Once, I dreamed of glory and fame…

I dreamt of being a great success…

Dreams of fabulous wealth danced in my head…

Of heroic deeds and wild acclaim.

Now ‘ere night falls, I close my eyes…

And pray and dream… of SLEEP

by D. Denise Dianaty

Reviews

[therisa]

Am reminded, when Squeak, Venus, and later, Star, entered my life, I reacted, like a mother, have her children home, for the first. Spending many, a sleepless night, worrying about them, and their needs, will I be able to support them. Now, the little darlings wake me up, during the middle of the night, seeking love, someone to play with, or by accident, when they brush against my body, on my bed. And yes, to paraphrase Oliver, from the musical, "Oliver"; sleep glorious sleep, nothing would be better..." As I try to sleep, just one morning, without being reminded, the food bowl is emptied and needs to be filled for the day. Would trade it, for anything, in the world, which my three little bundles of joys, give to me, on a daily basis. Thank you, Momzilla, for posting this poem, to remind us, what joy and happiness, comes from our little ones.

[MomzillaNC]

IDK. I just wanna sleep until I wake up on my own. I wanna be able to roll over and go back to sleep just because I can. But, I too, would never trade a moment with my son.

[therisa]

That would be glorious, Momzilla, being to wake, when our bodies want to, not forced to.

[Bright Ocean Star]

MomZilla, this poem brings back memories of late, late nights making sure the babies were breathing right, the humidifiers were up and running, and I could finally hit the pillow humming. Sleep, glorious sleep. It is a beautiful state of being...too often abused. Thank you for sharing this one...:)

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. My boy is 10 and he's still my little sleep depriver! :D

[Unknown]

Aw, that's so beautiful... I like it very much. :)

[MomzillaNC]

Thanks. I haven't slept uninterrupted since I learned I was pregnant 11 years ago! Some older lady at church told me, when I announced my pregnancy, that I'd never sleep again. I thought she was exaggerating! :P

[Unknown]

Older ladies are always right, haha... ;)

[MomzillaNC]

Too true! I especially cringe when my mother is proved correct! That's a real Aaaargh! moment.

[Unknown]

Tell me about it... Unfortunately, mothers are the leaders in proving their daughters wrong. x)

[MomzillaNC]

Too right! I know it's because things were so bad growing up, but I still have this knee-jerk response to do the opposite of whatever she thinks I should do. I constantly have to revisit my choices to be sure I'm not doing anything so unhealthy as to choose the wrong thing just to be contrary to her.

[Unknown]

Oh, mother-daughter relationships... Never a bore. Haha...

[MomzillaNC]

So very true.

[Lyn Anderson]

Sleep is highly under rated. I have never been one to sleep in, but the biggest change since the kids is the inability to sleep through the night. You think that's over when they stop being babies, but it's really not. They are often up in the middle of the night, or sneak in bed with you, or whatever ... I like this one very much. It is very real, and just says it like it is.
One minor thing, I think you missed an extra O in too old to nap.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. Yeah, my 10 year old doesn't often come try to slip into bed with us any more. But, he does try to sneak and watch TV in the middle of the night when he gets up to pee!

[Lyn Anderson]

I hope that means there is hope. My 7 year old still does it way too often.

[Lyn Anderson]

And I just noticed, you might have missed an IN in lay a bed and slept.:)

[MomzillaNC]

My son only stopped trying to slip into bed with us a little over a year ago. So, maybe you're close.

How can such a small body take up so much room and have so many elbows and knees!?

[MomzillaNC]

No, it's not missing. I've used a rather archaic form: "to lay a bed" or "lie a bed" meaning to linger in bed.Thanks, though.

[Lyn Anderson]

Oh, okay, and yes, I agree, one small body, so much room and so much heat ...:)

[MomzillaNC]

Oh gosh! They're little turbulent furnaces!

[NoelHC]

I got a chuckle out of this tale, I guess I don't realize how fortunate we were, all three of ours slept through the night from a young age, and continued to sleep decent hours as kids and teens.
I can relate though, listening to tales of friends with young kids and the sleep deprivation they suffer.
Well written.

[MomzillaNC]

You were very lucky indeed! When he was an infant, my son was screaming with colic every night between midnight and 4am, from the time he was about 3 months until he was bout 15 months old! Now, his feet hit the floor around midnight and he clatters and bumps and thumps his way to and from the toilet. Then, first light, he does the same thing again, comes slamming out his door into the hallway, then crashes his way down the stairs to let the dog out and slam the door behind him, setting the blinds banging and rattling against the door, while my son comes tearing and crashing back up the stairs to get ready for the day. I swear! I herd of buffalo couldn't make more noise!

[Matching Socks]

Love it, I actually did read this before but I think I got busy and didn't leave a review!

[MomzillaNC]

Ya know, a lady at church told me, when she knew I was pregnant, "You'll never sleep again." :D

[Matching Socks]

So true........ :)

[realmwriter]

Crickets! Damn crickets kept me awake. So I wrote about them. And then they helped me sleep. Love the sound of crickets. And I love this piece too. I think we all write of not being able to sleep at some point or another. Beautiful, fun and sleepy. Great write.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you!

Dang! I HATE… DESPISE… LOATHE CRICKETS!!! KILL ALL THE CRICKETS!!!! The sound of their chirping sets my teeth on edge! Like fingernails dragged across a blackboard!

[realmwriter]

I find them to be quite relaxing. But I guess not all of us do. I am sorry for having dredged up such a reaction from such and unsightly bug and that sound, OH HOW I HATE THAT SOUND. Almost makes my ears bleed. Nails on a chalkboard that is.

[MomzillaNC]

I'm really quite a non-violent person. It's only CRICKETS I want to kill.

[realmwriter]

While am not violent of myself. I will meat it with kind

[MomzillaNC]

"meat" it… LOL

[realmwriter]

Yeah well, sometimes I put use words like that to twist their meaning and other times, such as this one, it merely a "Happy accident"!

[MomzillaNC]

And, sometimes, it's an auto-correct accident! Those can be truly bizarre!

[realmwriter]

Yes they can. Very bizarre. But like a meme I read on facebook that said "Deer auto correct. At no time have I ever meant "DUCKING". Just thought that was funny.

[MomzillaNC]

Yes, it's funny. But try living in a town that auto correct ALWAYS wants to correct to the F-word.

[realmwriter]

And what town would that be I wonder?

[MomzillaNC]

A town named for a Frenchman.

[realmwriter]

Hmm, I don't know this Frenchman nor town but still, this would be frustrating to me if I lived there.

[MomzillaNC]

It's frustrating on my phone. I was able to tell the computer to "learn" the word.

[realmwriter]

The program will learn it on your phone too wouldn't it.

[MomzillaNC]

Not on my rather elderly Sidekick.

[realmwriter]

You need a new phone. That thing is ancient

[MomzillaNC]

IKR!? It's so old, a mugger'd likely beat the crap out of me for having too crappy a phone to steal!

[realmwriter]

LMAO! Right. Maybe with that thought in mind you really should get a new phone. Just keep panic mode on.

[MomzillaNC]

It's high on the list once the house sells.

[realmwriter]

I hope for your sake that it does sell.

[MomzillaNC]

From your fingertips to God's eyes!

[realmwriter]

Amen to that Zilla!

[Einstein Noodle]

such a sad lament :(( but you know those children are a hell of a success .. if they make it to 20 without jail sentences unwanted babies and loss of limb or mental function ... amen says i amen!

i got use to getting up around 3 am so i could read, have my coffee, watch what i wanted to on TV and prepare for the coming battle to survive .. i am retired now :) and most mornings am still up and doing the same ting by 4 am .. but when i do sleep in .. until like 6:30 .. oh what a blessing!!! :))) sweet dreams Momzilla
E.

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you. :D I just felt it was better to look at it through a slightly humorous lens.

[Einstein Noodle]

yep .. humor is the best medicine as they say :))

[Jamie R. Robillard Sr.]

If only I could not relate! Good read.

[Zakari Schmidt]

You said this was one draft? Sleep deprivation pays off sometimes ha this is very good. I like the flow and substance of your work

[MomzillaNC]

Yes, this one was complete as it flowed from from my pencil. I was free associating what life was like before my son. I love him more than I thought was humanly possible, but it's true… once you have kids, you'll never sleep again! :D

[Zakari Schmidt]

:) glad to have read it

[MomzillaNC]

Thank you.