It’s Called “Chronic Pain” for a Reason

A Poem

Photo by Yuris Alhumaydy on Unsplash

Draw the curtains
make it dark, apply
a balm to your temples
around the back of your neck.
It smells of lavender, is
said to help with the pain.
Give me an ice pack, now heat.
Alternate. Close eyes. Count back from
100. Sleep. Try to sleep. In the Bible
one touch of Jesus’s robes
cured her of years of bleeding,
of pain. Draw the curtains.
Sleep. Try to sleep. The pain can
only keep…