I’ll have you know, me lovelies

That the opposite of pain is not pleasure

(Though there is pleasure in pain, the kinky folks will have us believe).

The opposite of pain is not no-pain either

Uh huh, no.

The opposite of pain is numbness.

Not comfortably so, Roger Waters, bless your soul, you were on the right track,

But blissfully so.

The seductively silky morphine smoothening a shredded, screaming central nervous system.

Like a hair conditioner advert. Dove Advanced Hair Series Rejuvenated Volume conditioner, that protects, nourishes and replenishes...

You buy it.

They still scream, the nerves. But now you hear a new note. That all but drowns the wailing.

The siren’s song, rest here awhile, scurvied sailor, where’s the rush.

I wish I had a pretty analogy for pain,

A sub-textual revelation,

This much suffering must mean something, surely.

It doesn’t. The Buddhists had it right all along. Suffering Is.

Take the pill, honey. No Heracles is coming to fight off your undying Hydra.

It’s time to co-exist with the monster.