A fine line I walk
in the wakeful hours
of the night. Baby fights
sleep in my arms.
Her eyes screwed tightly
shut, she croaks, claws
As my neck, my breast.

Shattered awake too many
times in the middle of dreams,
eyes too bleary to make out
the time on the clock,
I rock her in aching arms,
try to keep from shaking
her to sleep.

Biography
Shirley A. Serviss is an Edmonton writer with three published poetry collections: Model Families, Reading Between the Lines, and Hitchhiking in the Hospital. These poems were previously published in Model Families. Shirley works as the Staff Literary Artist for the Friends of University Hospitals' Artists on the Wards program. She also teaches creative writing for the City of Edmonton.