Pain is a Teacher

And a deaf one at that.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

I was inspired recently by a Philip Larkin poem recited on Ted Lasso (great poem, “This Be the Verse”.) Thought I’d let loose a poem that came to me while feeling pretty sore after a hike.

Pain is a Teacher

Pain is a teacher
More constant than any preacher
Not just Sunday but any day
Pain will teach the lowest creature

Pain tells us when we’re very small
What things we can and cannot do
It tells us our needs, makes us bawl
Ignore pain and he returns anew

But pain is a deaf teacher
He knows not that we hear his lesson
His presence a constant feature
No matter the drugs we take to lessen

Despite our cries and wails and fear
Pain offers us its deaf ear
Its oration, the only thing it knows
“Heed my call, or death follows”

Thanks for reading!