Pain v’s Suffering

Is there even any difference between us
Well, put it this way
Pain certainly gives birth to suffering
But is really only a surrogate mother
It’s your baby

Pain says:

You think you don’t like me; I understand
But without me you would be
In all kinds of trouble; I speak truth
And that truth reveals very important facts
So I’m fulfilling my vocation
It’s you that is letting the side down
I say: ‘don’t do that’
Or: ‘that is not a good idea’
You say: ‘Shut up – leave us alone’
And then, further down the line
You look at me and my child
The child you fathered
And hate us – thanks

Suffering says:

I think I should mention
That many people leave me stronger
Than they were when we met
But to be fair, I don’t like my position
It’s true, I am one of Pain’s children
The one that isn’t very nice
But, why I am like that – Well, how would you be
If you had something so important to say
Yet no-one ever listened – wouldn’t you shout louder
That’s the story of me & my mum
Personally, I have no idea why you don’t take heed
We never cry-wolf
If you paid more attention to my mother
You may never even meet me – lucky you!

Switching Addiction

Now my addiction has moved on from the prior; no longer in denial
Still with life altering habits but not faltering; no longer a buyer
Untangling the barbed wire, I found something higher
Before the consequences were dire but now – like Friar Tuck I’m in simple attire

I was preoccupied with an immediate gratifier
A modifier of truth – so I would perspire, call my supplier
Surrender my entire mind to a filthy liar
His words seemed to inspire me – but all they brought was fire

My feelings were twisted; used like pliers to remove my hearts desires
I got life-jacked by a beast; I was an occupier
Of a broken mind; my freedom was for hire
I had admired evil but now I know his style

On that road my wisdom got a flat tyre
Set to expire; I was a fake like Mrs Doubtfire
But I learnt to enquire, called a cease-fire
Now I aspire to a use what I discovered; expose that liar

So I’m off to a flier – changing everything to Reacquire
My future. The past was an appetiser – poisonous but the main course is pure
You can’t acquire a tune when the piano wire is round your neck, squire
Return it to it’s place; rewire your brain while there’s still tread on your tyre

If you think I’m only talking drugs here friend, think again, I’m in a different choir
That’s just one part of this mess; we are caught in the cross-fire of every destructive desire
That conspires against us; drugs are killers but don’t forget that evil hires
Many different tools to destroy our lives; we each have a part to play in his demise

This knowledge wasn’t prior – but it’s here now; The news-wire
Has arrived – we dropped the hair dryer in the bath and the world’s on fire
Let me shout through the amplifier of everything that has transpired
Death is the backdrop to this life, people – what more proof do we require

Please listen friend, I know you want to be a high-flier; live-wire
But don’t you sell yourself to that evil-eyer
Stalking you with one desire; cause you to misfire
Break your life and leave you in the mire

We are lighting the fires on our own funeral pyres
Reap what you sow is simple logic; don’t acquire bad things
Come with Him; walk the high-wire; or do you still think
That bad is good and good is bad – that’s the trip-wire; the world is such a liar

Tiredness

Tiredness has become my unwanted friend
My stay-awake soul mate
He dulls my days – bores me
And keeps me up at night
How can he do that
It doesn’t make sense but I’m too far gone to think
He moves my thoughts and ideas
And hides them, just out of range
He took my ability to remember quite how long he’s been here
It feels like ages but I don’t care
He stole that as well – my frustration and my patience
I used to have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other
Now I’m not sure – I can’t be bothered to look
I just want him gone
But I can’t seem to stop feeding him
Is this a vicious circle
Who would think that tiredness was so active
So voracious – unrelenting and in my face
On my face; written in darkened lines
I wish he would fall asleep – then I would run away

During

During darkness, there is light
During weakness, there is might

During suffering, there is peace
During anger, there is release

During worry, there is thought
During sorrow, change is wrought

During destruction, there is building
During breaking, there is moulding

During chaos, there is meaning
During tears, there is weaning

During despair, there is yearning
During error, there is learning

During poverty, there is wealth
During sickness, we find health

During disaster, there is always hope
During all things, with Him we will cope

During this world, He looks down from above
During all our mistakes, there is God and God is Love

Pain

Can you explain pain
Physical and mental bane
Unwanted guest in man’s domain
Giving eye-strain to the humane and the inhumane

Why engrain us with this ball and chain
Hurt’s ad campaign, unfriendly heavy-weather vane
Is there a reason I walk with a cane
Or does the pain in my world fall in vain

What’s the game; restrain my reign
Retrain the human brain with acid rain
It’s driving me insane; top of the food chain
Yet pain has free-rein on my mental plane

I don’t aim to profane the things beyond my brain
Just want to feel sane; I’m a link in a chain
Where many have it sweet like sugar cane
And many others have to slash their feet on sharp terrain

Pain, is it needed to maintain life in the human-lane
Not an oil stain but a language that contains
Instructions to refrain from doing things that bring disdain
A map of good and bad terrain; part of our moral grain

Do we build houses on flood-plains for financial gain
And then blame pain for clouding up life’s maintain range
Do we rob the poor and needy to buy private planes
And drink champagne – then blame the shame on pain

If you remain on the tracks of the freight train
It will hit you. Refrain, reach out to people caught in pain
Through the fault of others; this is not some arcane brain-drain
It comes when things are wrong; life speaks through pain