Pain

Pain is a signal we cannot ignore,

In no uncertain terms it tells us of need,

And goads the will to take what steps it may

To seek relief.  The body can no more

Endure, and to its urgency pays heed

In seeking means such suffering to allay,

It mars the functioning, depletes the store

Of energy, and saps the life indeed.

Yet drives us to arrest what seeps away.

Relief may come with drugs, but at the core

Slow rot continues;  healing is not there.

So with the soul that writhes in agony,

Conscious of sin there is no remedy

Save what is found in importunate prayer.

 

Weekly Times 12.4.62