been there, done that

i wait for a miracle pop
that will release
all the tension in the muscles
at once!
and life can go back to what it was
before the pain.
instead it insists on its own pace
of minuscule degrees of healing
per day.
sometimes it's gone
and i can almost forget about it,
before it comes back with a vengeance.
the pain so sudden and piercing
i can hear my teeth grind
and taste the silent tears

i could have been writing about
the worst shoulder sprain
in my history
or
i could have been writing about
a shoulder sprain
that sounds extraordinarily like
the aftershocks of a break up
when described
or
i could have been writing about
the aftershocks of a break up
that made the shoulder sprain
seem like a pale copy

either way,
up all night i stay