When I turn out the lights

and beg the darkness around me to take me

with it into a quiet slumber, it is you

that enters my mind instead of the calming

nothingness that comes with sleep.

I am awarded by longing and loneliness

with the memories invading every thought within me

instead of surrendering to the exhaustion that waits

with its arms open wide and a lopsided grin.

I lie awake remembering every recollection of you

and plead for the kind of sleep I can only receive

when you're lying next to me.