Night tortures

or ‘diminished by daylight’

Tinnitus
Sinusitis

Now I look at you in the cold light of day,
and at your frankly limited handful of letters,
your power over me has shrunk and
I can see you’re not the same.

But in the early hours, when you cavorted in my head,
you were an anagram of pain and sleeplessness,
rearranging your sliding letter tiles to interlock across my face.

With your solid gnawing of cheekbone and eye socket,
you little beasts of torture,
you made twangling iron of my brain.
And like a knight against his dragon
I longed to slay you with a well-placed lance -
to cut you out,
or at least
to puncture your overwhelming, pompous dominance
of my poor head.

But I feared cutting off my nose to spite my face.

It only needed toothache to complete the unholy trinity
of ear-busting, face-aching, jaw-breaking misery.

I will not endure another night of wakeful agony.
Painkillers and sleeping tablets are at the ready.
I’ll conquer you yet,
you most unromantic of complaints.

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