Everything hurts
including my brain
Why did I wake and
return to this pain?

I can stretch out the muscles
that pull in a cramp
But the darkness of dreading
never lets up

Everything hurts
I crawl to the sink
Coffee is heating
I just need to drink

I can warm my stomach
and jumpstart my nerves
But the empty-fold future
Lurks undeserved

Everything hurts
and for silence I beg
I only find feeling
In my arms and my leg

The noise of the day
drowns out my thirst
And tomorrow looms darkly
an ominous curse

  - - -

Everything hurts
including my brain
Why did I wake and
return to this pain?

  - - -

The darkness I'm dreading
never lets up

8/21/23