A Shot of Morphine

With great pain
comes even greater drugs,
the false feeling of serenity,
nerves comatose,
chest like a tomb,
heart stiff and unquestioning,
head not knowing
whether it’s yesterday or tomorrow.
It’s not healing,
merely internal misdirection,
a conjurer’s trick in a syringe –
just ask your legs
if you can find them.
This is your time
of being nothing more
than a lead-weight,
no feeling, no memory,
a once warm-blooded woman
surrendering to the onset of ice.

John Grey

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Stand, Santa fe Literary Review, and Sheepshead Review. Latest books, ”Between Two Fires”, “Covert” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the McNeese Review, La Presa and California Quarterly