Insomnia The Gem of the Ocean by John Updike

Insomnia The Gem of the Ocean

by John Updike

When I lay me down to sleep

My waterbed says, “Gurgle gleep,”

And when I readjustment crave

It answers with a tidal wave

And lifts me like a bark canoe

Adrift in breakers off Peru.

Neap to my spring, ebb to my flow,

It turns my pulse to undertow,

It turns my thoughts to bubbles, it

Still undulates when I would quit;

Two bags of water, it and I

In restless sympathy here lie.