Insomnia is an all-night travel agency with posters advertising faraway places. Thee the sea is always blue and so is the sky. A little white hotel with green shutters waits for you, each one of its rooms “a thing of twilight, bluish and roseate.”

Like a traveler weary of his journeying, you undress with the window open. The setting sun wears a red turban. The sea is dark blue. In the lush garden swallows are darting. When the night finally falls, veiled Scheherazade will bring mint tea to your bed.

In the meantime, silence and your shadow on the bare wall.