The concept of Bedfordshire

I am obsessed with poems and quotes about sleeping and dreaming, which is odd because I don’t sleep much. Or rather, my shift work is so awful, that my body clock is set to sleep at 4.30am at weekends, and I wake up at 6.30am during the week to get up to Glasgow for uni. This is why I love Edna St. Vincent Milay’s ‘First Fig’:

My candle burns at both ends,
It will not last the night!
But ah! My foes! and oh! my friends!
It gives a lovely light!

I remember when I was at elocution lessons, I was obsessed with a poem that I cannot remember the name of now. I try to google the words, but to no avail, it is lost to the back of my mind. Maybe, it’s my poem, and I made it up in a dream?

Everything falls asleep with sleep,
The weariness, the will.
It’s hard to loathe a sleeping face
Lapsed back into a state of grace,
Naked, relaxed and still.

I probably didn’t make that up, but I wish I could find the whole poem. It was about falling asleep on the train. It was beautiful.

And now to dreams, I have two views on dreams, and they both contradict each other. I love Paul Valery for saying “The best way to follow your dreams is to wake up!” I wish I was more ‘carpe diem’ about life, everything is always put to the last minute. I always procrastinate and say ‘I work best under pressure’, but perhaps, I really should seize the day for my new yeas resolution.

On the other hand, I am also intrigued by Douglas Coupland’s “JPod” view of dreams:

You’re always hearing about “following your dream,” but what if your dream is boring? What if you had a dream to sell roadside corn – if you went and sold it would that mean you were living your dream? Would people perceive you as a failure anyway? And how long would you be happy doing it? Probably not long, but by then it’s too late to start something else. You’re fucked’.

Sums up life to be honest. But let’s seize the day and do something pointless, like sell corn (or study Politics!)

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