For the Sleepwalkers by Edward Hirsch

From the beginning of the poem I was excited to read about sleepwalking because I have some good memories of people I know sleepwalking. I could not tell you if I ever slept walk. I really like how the author approaches the subject of sleepwalking, not by saying really the dangers of sleepwalking but looking at the positive influence it can have if we see what sleepwalking really means. The poem does take a positive kind of  approach, but I know that sleepwalking can be very dangerous. While at lake powell one time with family friends, Wes who was about 19 at the time decided to sleep on the top deck of the house boat which was a mistake. We find out the next morning that Wes went sleepwalking right off the side of the boat and jumped in the water. Where he jumped was shallow water and rocks, Wes got lucky with only a scrap on his back, but he could have died and it was a very scary thought, that sleepwalking was the reason for it.

I think that the poem brings out a really neat message about trusting ourselves completely with no doubt. That is very hard to do, but what I got from the poem was that with trusting our heart, maybe sleepwalking is the first step to doing that.