100 Years of Sleep by Dunya Mikhail

31 Days of Poetry: Day 15

For the month of August I’ll be participating in The Sealey Challenge and attempting to read a book of poetry every day (or at least a poem or two), and every day I’ll be sharing a poem with you. If poetry isn’t your thing, a month isn’t too long a time, I promise. But if it is, I hope this series affords you an opportunity to discover some new favourites or revisit some old ones.

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Today’s poem is ‘100 Years of Sleep’ by Dunya Mikhail, which was first published in her 2019 collection, ‘In Her Feminine Sign' (Carcanet Press).

100 Years of Sleep

I don't want to be the princess.
I only want to be her sleep
for 100 years.

I want to skip the problems
of the 21st century -
water pollution
nuclear war
capsised boats
that carry immigrants
away from their homelands.

I may miss important inventions
and new songs
and weekends
when people go out
to their dates
followed by one moon.

I may open my eyes for a moment
to take a glimpse of the universe in its beauty
and then close them again.

But what if my loved ones
surrounded me
and whispered in my ear
one by one?
I would wake up of course.

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The tone of this poem is one of such recognisable exhaustion. Yes, if I were to sleep for 100 years I’d miss the romance of the world- those moments of beauty- but how often does it feel as though it gets lost amongst the rest?

But it is there, isn’t it? Moments of connection, love stories unfolding, sunrises, sunsets, the absolute beauty of creation. And, if we’re lucky, of course there will always be the pull of those we love. Perhaps they make it all bearable, perhaps they’re just impossible to be without.

As always, my heart is with those who are denied even this.

See you on day sixteen,

Tasnim