Thank you John, I saw you announce a Speccie comp for best loser and thought I'd enter being as how it's a subject close to my heart an' all.

Besides, I noted that Schechter is sweeping the boards and a fit of jealousy overtook me to the extent that I thought I'd better try and do something about it. Mind you, it's only trying.

Sleep is overrated.
Sitting up is fun.
Why lie down sedated
waiting for the sun?

Time to throw a party,
or clean the dresser drawers!
I'm awake and hearty
while the city snores.

Neither theft nor fire
will take me unawares.
I could hear a vampire
stealing up the stairs.

For a midnight panic
it's better to be dressed,
and if I'm rather manic
at least I'm not depressed.

What an adorable little poem. I hope you won't change a word.

Jim, I'm glad to have galvanized you. Good stuff. And Gail, love yours too.

I can't seem to catch the spirit of this comp. Here's my latest off the mark attempt:

NOCTURNAL

I dreamt I had insomnia.
I thrashed upon my bed
dreaming I was not asleep
but wide awake instead.

Later on I woke for real.
I thrashed, and then I knew:
if you want it bad enough,
dreams sometimes come true.

Where the scribe and where the bard?
Lying wide-eyed on his bed,
combing through his mental lexicon
for that fugitive mot juste,
vital to the smart beau geste
couplet playing ping-pong in his brain.

“Once upon a midnight dreary”—
Poe recorded in his diary
that which every ardent scribbler knows:
somewhere in the hours between
midnight and the break of dawn,
inspiration parties with the muse.

So give heed, you who would mock
this confirmed insomniac:
while you dream away your lives,
we the sleepless live our dreams.

oOOo

Re. a rhyme for insomnia:

A victory in 2012 for Romney, a
Sure recipe for Democrats' insomnia.

I cannot sleep, or sleep in fits.
My Southern friend said, "Try some grits."
But I don't consider hominy a
cure for a bad case of insomnia.

I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
Upon the Marsh of Romney, a
Farrago of such utter balls
It led to my insomnia.

In Praise of Insomnia
 

Insomnia I’ve never had
And it does not make me glad
What it does is make me mad.
Too much sleep is very bad
A waste of time I could have had
To think and do, it's really sad.

A win for President Mitt Romney, a
Sure recipe for Dem insomnia.
Add Sarah Palin as his veep,
And nobody'd get any sleep.