Abducted

Back in bed with ice on my head
This flaming pain will kill me dead
Is there anyone listening? Did you hear what I said?
My days are numbered; I’m in the red

On it burns as they pass me by
All having their babies, their piece of the pie
I had plans too, that my life would fly
But backward it goes, no matter how I try

How to be sane as it pounds away
This pain in my head that’s decided to stay
“One day at a time” – “Seek help from on high”
Some days I can do it, some days I just cry

Lately it’s worse and the darkness grows
Pulling me toward its unknowable lows
Settling ‘round me and fogging me in
Letting in nothing but negative spin

Try to ignore it or push it away,
But the monster is in; it’s gonna have its day
Drag you through madness in a sticky slop
Stomp all over your soul ‘til it stops –

Stops hoping and dreaming of anything good
Gets used to this dangerous neighborhood
Where you’re jumped from behind; thoughts invade your mind
Say you need relief of a desperate kind

They’re not from you, all these thoughts to screw
But you’re stuck in a place where they slip eerily through
The woods, the river, the bridge, the car
Are not what they were, when you’re out this far

Triggered by the headache, a force of its own
With madness by its side, your isolation has grown
No one can get in here and you can’t get out
Body, mind, and spirit – you have lost your clout

© 2006, Kate McCafferty

An entry from the
Putting Our Heads Together
Migraine and Headache Poetry Contest