How do I know I’m tired.

My eyes feel dry, slightly cooler with a downward pressure,

lightly, just below the bottom lid.

And now it’s like a heaviness, inside,

as if the direction is inward

where every part of me wants to turn, curl, fold,

weighed down, inward

as if now, being tired, I feel how strongly

all of myself must have been expanding outward

from these depths, all day awake.

And now I am tired, drawing myself back,

that same strength turned back,

pulling back,

contracts into

my self.