The Worst Pain

“On a scale
Of One to Ten,
How bad does it hurt?
One being no pain,
Ten being the worst pain
You’ve ever felt.”
“Seven,” she said,
As the nurse nodded.
“Seven? Hmm…”
As if that was an apt description.
As if the nurse
Could know
How bad the worst pain was.
Fancy words like “bullet wound”
And “broken heart”
Came to mind.
But honestly,
Ten was Streptococcus B.
Not as bad, she thought.
Different, she thought.

She had eyes that really look at you—
Eyes they wanted to look at them.
Pretty,
Beautiful legs
They always wanted to touch.
Smooth hands always reaching further…
Those pretty eyes cry now.
It doesn’t mean much.
It does not make
The bad dreams go away
“Stop that whining,” she said,
“Dry your face.”
Monsters
Where she once was.
Mirrors show something else:
Prescription labels in her eyes.
They reflect in other people’s
Hardened faces.
As if they could know
How bad her pain was.