Of Sleep's Defeat

It came in the night, a crescent smile Slit across the midlands of its face, The foe of a thousand nights to once again battle A mind unsettled and heaving, drifting Towards the edges of sleep; with the flick of an eye, Sleep was gone, no more to return, I thought to myself in hushed, tick-tock tones, Speaking in tongues from a distant land I once encountered in a faraway world, Sweat soaking the sheets, dry beads of fear Streaking my cheeks, or were they tears, In the dark air gasping for peace, As the moon-shaped face of the night congealed And cast a pall on the unborn day, The sun slowly rose to bleed the night of darkness, Driving back the nocturnal beast to its lair, Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, Where sleep lies lifeless at the feet of this monster, Till night returns reposing to do battle once more.