if sleep I must

I’ve never really relished
asking anything of you,
but unable to sleep last night
and having tried it all,
I proceeded then to wake you
(and quite selfishly I think),
wondering if you wouldn’t mind
singing my tired soul to sleep.
So, briefly startled as one is
when from a cradle coldly clawed,
you then replied as so few would –
a warm, selfless affirmative.
And though your eyes so red and raw
now throbbed along with your limp throat,
you gave your sweet voice to my ears –
just for how long I’ll never know –
for no one ever quite recalls
precisely when they fall asleep…