Pain

Pain greeted me bombastically and abruptly; with no hint of subtlety or remorse…

There were no mutinous whispers in the quivering candle light; nor debatable discourse…

It conquered me immediately…  Disgraced, I was forced to kneel…

And with a pretentious grin, pieces of my soul it began to steal…

Its dreadful face is the last thing I see at night; and the first when I awake…

Its devotion is almost reassuring, but its motives still opaque…

I escaped down to the drugstore last Monday night…

I asked for some elixir, but all the drugs were locked up tight…

So I sat down on the sidewalk; defeated back against the wall…

My pain sat down beside me and offered up some alcohol…