And So We Sleep

by Lynn Michael Martin

And so we sleep, forgetting all that harms;
our sleep itself a praise to him who stands
a promise in the night, whose ageless hands
caress the children cradled in his arms.

Near us his heart, beating like gentle rain,
moves all the world and makes our spirits rest.
His breath falls lightly here, but, east and west,
it quickens all ills, makes all joys remain.

This is the house where deathless treasures hide,
which holds the world and all its worth within,
where every love and every bond of kin
trebles a thousand times the wealth inside.

By every bond or tie, we rest each night
wrapped in the light whose heartbeat cannot lie.

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Lynn Michael Martin is slowly learning that he is not the center of the world.

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Photography by Kenneth Godoy