know what I’m thinking
when I’m up there
with my pants around my knees
who is this worse for
him or me
next time perhaps I’ll ask
Night Light
Awoken by cramp
in the middle of the night
I got to thinking:
if I move it hurts,
if I don’t move it hurts,
whatever I do it hurts.
And in this comedy of helplessness
and the glow of the landing light,
I felt a voice within me say:
pain you can survive
pain means you are alive.
And then came sleep,
and then came sleep,
and then the clatter
of my children’s feet.
