My Nap (Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep)

I nap now.
I'm not that old, but
my body regularly requires it
on a busy, stressful day.

The Doctor says
I should do what my body wants.
In this regard anyway.

So, less often than I should
mainly because of a good Mennonite work ethic,
I take my nap.

I come home exhausted
and I crawl beneath my quilt
for an hour, or two, or three.

How exquisite it feels to
my weary body, my tired spirit.

I turn onto my side,
knees slightly bent
one hand beneath my face
the other comfortably beside it
in its own place.

The quilt pulled up just beneath my chin
and within moments the room swirls about
and I am gone.
I sleep.

But not yesterday
Yesterday, safe within my cocoon I thought to myself
an odd thought
this is exactly how I want to be laid to rest.

I've seen too many dead bodies
in caskets.
That look even more uncomfortable, if that is possible,
because of what they are wearing.
And I thought

When my time comes, and it will,
lay me in my simple box in a comfortable
shirt and trousers
on my side
with my knees slightly bent
one hand beneath my face
the other comfortably beside it
in it's own place.
And let my quilt be pulled up
just beneath my chin
that I may rest comfortably
and let me sleep.

And let me
in my temporary home
be oriented towards you
my partner in life.
You shouldn't have to worry that I'll breathe on you.
But I face you because
you have access to my heart.
And because after all these years of watching over you
and you watching over me
let me rest in my going
the way we lived our lives together.
Watching over one another.

Then let me sleep, my body resting
until the day
my shoulder is touched
by the One who loved me before I was even born
and He gently speaks the words of life
"It's time to get up."
and I am awakened from my slumber
never to need a nap again.

Yawn.