My Old Friend Pain

I awoke and there she was again: my old friend maddening pain exploring me with her terrible fingers; burning me behind my eyes and knotting my stomach with waves of nausea.

Far too late, I groped for the tablets beside my bed and drank long draughts of water, before dampening a face-flannel and making a cool mask for my eyes and then laying back to play the game that my old friend and I have played so many times before.

I started to explore the pain, quantifying it and pushing at its boundaries; mapping and pinning it down. Then I provoked it and goaded it to make it worse and thought "Is that the best you can do? I have the measure of you my friend"

Finally, I relaxed and sought refuge in that safe place in my mind and my bed became cool damp sand and my fingers stopped clawing at bedclothes and plunged deep down into it. The face-flannel that covered my eyes became seaweed to cool, calm and caress me.

Then seawater flowed round and held me in a silent, chill embrace and, yielding to its comfort and peace, I slept.