Tanka about Pain

 1. Chronic Pain

Stupid, really,

to say it, given the pain

must be and is …

Yet I feel compelled to cry

one more time: Unbearable!

2. Killers

Once again pain

has conquered my pain-killers.

So many down!

I send reinforcements, hardly

caring if they kill … pain or me.

3. Giving Comfort

In lovingkindness

my friend calls to ask after

the state of my pain.

And to comfort him I say,

“It’s not quite so bad today.”

4. Ambitions

Waking, I wonder

when the day will be over.

Oh, living with pain 

has reduced my ambitions

to just … living without pain.