This pain has been with me
for a year and a half.
In the last six months
it has been consistent and debilitating.
"Don't let your pain define you,"
said the therapist.
Tell that to the pain,
I say.
I understand what he meant,
that there is so much more to me
than my pain;
I am still Dirk, despite it.
But at times the pain takes over
like an opinionated, pushy house guest
who shoulders everyone else aside
hijacking conversations,
taking up more than his share of our limited space,
overwhelming me.
I can't focus, can't concentrate, can't escape;
he talks so loudly, rarely pausing--
louder than the book I try to read,
the poem I struggle to compose,
the emails I want to write,
louder than blogging, photography, cooking, sleep--
pain louder than life,
pain louder than life...
___
"But you're blogging right now, aren't you?"
Yes...yes, I am.
"And how is that happening?"
Because this week, the house guest seems somewhat subdued.
Perhaps someone had a word with him.
Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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