I was smiling in my sleep
then woken by a different smile
to tell me I was smiling in my sleep.
As I moved my concrete head,
trying to smile in my awake,
the room was a scream at the sight
of the pillowed side of my face
smothered in blood.
I’d had an unconscious nose bleed,
smiling as it slowly drowned me.

© Carl Burkitt 2020