His knuckles hurt,

but the rest of him felt good.

It was strange how much misery

a man could unload

  with one hard punch.

Marvin H. Albert

The Chiselers

1953

Everything goes to sleep

if you wait long enough.

Paul Tremblay

The Little Sleep

2009

What did it matter

where you lay

once you were dead?

In a dirty sump

or in a marble tower

on top of a high hill?

You were dead,

you were sleeping

the big sleep,

you were not bothered

by things like that.

Raymond Chandler

The Big Sleep

1939

"Cheapskate," said the cowboy.

Then he frowned, thinking.

"Of course, perhaps he intended

to let you keep it."

Michael Crichton

Zero Cool

1969