Rock Me To Sleep...

BACKWARD, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,
Make me a child again just for to-night!

- Elizabeth (Akers) Allen. 1832–1911

Babies know what they want. They are driven by the basest of things. If they're hungry, they cry, then they eat. If they're wet, or uncomfortable, they cry, and eventually get relief. When they want to sleep, they pass out...be it in their own comfortable cribs, or in the middle of a circus.

As we get older, what we want isn't necessarily so clear. Oh, that it would be! Things get progressively more complicated. Should they? That's what everyone says. But I think we had the right idea when we were babies. Then again, when we cried, someone was there to feed us. When we were wet someone was there to change us. When we needed to rest, all we had to do was close our eyes. Now, if we're hungry, we have to find food. This most times means having money, which means getting a job that allows you to buy food, which means getting an education so you can be employed, which means studying hard in school, which means finding the motivation to study - which was, oh yeah...food? Doing those things generally means sacrificing our sleep and comfort.

All very confusing stuff.

Maybe we will figure it all out when we're old, and in diapers again. Then we can ring a bell when we're hungry, push a button when we want to be more comfortable, and close our eyes when we want to sleep.

Right now, I want to be a child again. Just for tonight.