Yesterday, pain stopped me in my tracks.

What began as a mild, but bearable pain

built into throbbing unbearable agony.

The muscle that runs from my head

down through my neck and into my shoulder

pulsed with pain that wouldn’t allow me

to lift or turn my head, or to sit up when

I was lying down. I was miserable when awake,

but couldn’t sleep. The pain stabbed like

a hot poker. I couldn’t drive, nor hardly ride

in a car. What was this monster that entered my

body? A beast that burned its way from my head

down to my shoulder. When a body that lives with

chronic pain – sobs at a new attacker, you know it’s a brute.

Heat helped, but only when I could find a way to remain static –

any movement brought renewed tears. The doctor says I have

somehow damaged the muscle that runs from my head to my

shoulder and it must calm down! I must give it time to heal.

So, he prescribed magic medicine to tame the brutal beast.

I certainly want it, at the very least, to calm down. I really want

to forget that this pain ever existed. With any luck, I shall.