Click, tick, pop, my eyes straining against the rigging in their sockets
Pillow, pillow
Sheet, sheet
Click tick pop
I feign sleep, hoping the night sentries won’t spot me
But the cycle begins, its huge cavernous mouth opens
Snippets of whole libraries are scraped off the plate
Lines from unwritten novels fall off the page
Half forgotten faces
Grains of sand, flocks of sheep
Round and round
But it won’t take me
Click tick pop
The cat snores
A motorbike rumbles down the road
Only to be swallowed by a jet plane
Married with the wind, who has far more to say
Crashing through the trees and round the houses
Receding with the leaves
Then a train!
Fading, its teeth chattering on the tracks
They come and go
But still they won’t take me
The wheel of my ship has no grip. I am at sea
I have lost my command
Click tick pop
The boiler bursts into life
The pump purrs in contented expectation of the heat
Lights seeps in
The night sentries are getting drowsy
Is this my chance?