Seven Nights Ago Now

You vowed not to allow
A fresh midnight setback.
You clung to the bed sheets.

You clung to your own skin.
You vowed, you swore, you cursed
As the anonymous

Bolus of pain drilled in.
No idea why that spot.
No idea why so bad,

So suddenly, when all
Had been going so well,
Just one needle gleaming

In the mind as it was
Rolling—don’t give up, don’t
Give in, don’t tell, don’t tell.