Chronic Pain in Verse

I ran across this a few days ago, and wanted to share:


Managing Pain
by
Georgianna and Joan


My heart is beating,
What joy it is to feel its pulse.
My lungs breathe air in, air out
My air, your air, our air.
I thank God for this miracle.

Uh oh,
Sharp pains intrude.
Familiar, unwelcome guests
To pester me,
To hold me back.

But I am stronger than the pain,
“1…2…3…4...”
I breathe slowly and deeply
And the pain recedes a little bit. Enough.

Let the pain catch on to this game of mine
And I have an alternate plan.
I will count higher, I will breathe fuller,
I will remember that somewhere in the tornado of
The pain lies a soft pillow of peace.
It is mine.

When the pillow eludes me as it does sometimes
I will leave my body
Borrow a cloud and ride it to the sky
Float in peace and watch the waves kiss the shore.
I will sing the praises of my imagination
My gift from God.