Nurofen Nightmare
The headache comes slowly
Shuffling in socks
Tiptoeing in, finger on lips
Furtively glancing
Then silently settles, brooding
To wait
Wait. Ah! Now is the moment
Time to expand, stretch limbs
Try a tentative tap
Now another, let’s make it a riff
Drag out the snare drum, the cymbal, high hat
Tappety tap, Fred Astaire with the shoes
Soft shoe shuffle hop step, syncopate
Accentuate, hip hop, raga and rap
Now lifting the tempo, Count Basie in swing
Chorus of trumpets in unison swing
Joyfully tapping in puddles and storm
Swing round the lampposts
In happy refrain, laughing and singing
Happy again
The thunderclouds building
Horizon pitch dark
Bring on the big guns
The cannons, why not
The climax is coming, the pulsing, the pounding
Carmina burana insistent drum thrumming
The headache comes slowly
Shuffling in socks
Tiptoeing in, finger on lips
Furtively glancing
Then silently settles, brooding
To wait
Wait. Ah! Now is the moment
Time to expand, stretch limbs
Try a tentative tap
Now another, let’s make it a riff
Drag out the snare drum, the cymbal, high hat
Tappety tap, Fred Astaire with the shoes
Soft shoe shuffle hop step, syncopate
Accentuate, hip hop, raga and rap
Now lifting the tempo, Count Basie in swing
Chorus of trumpets in unison swing
Joyfully tapping in puddles and storm
Swing round the lampposts
In happy refrain, laughing and singing
Happy again
The thunderclouds building
Horizon pitch dark
Bring on the big guns
The cannons, why not
The climax is coming, the pulsing, the pounding
Carmina burana insistent drum thrumming
All the percussion in unison clashing, cymbals together merciless crashing
Napoleon’s armies in overture battle
1812 slaughter with bugles and cannon
Crescendo cacophony, enough now, enough!
Call ceasefire, surrender, raise the white flag
I’m routed, exhausted, head in my hands
Defeated, a prisoner, lock me in chains
Switch off the lights and muffle the drums
Whisper it softly, tiptoe as you go
Let there be mercy
Petition for peace
Napoleon’s armies in overture battle
1812 slaughter with bugles and cannon
Crescendo cacophony, enough now, enough!
Call ceasefire, surrender, raise the white flag
I’m routed, exhausted, head in my hands
Defeated, a prisoner, lock me in chains
Switch off the lights and muffle the drums
Whisper it softly, tiptoe as you go
Let there be mercy
Petition for peace
August 10th 2009 Hounoux
I know the feeling!
ReplyDeleteI love it! The poem not the migraine!
ReplyDeleteMine seems to have an additional verse today: Woke up defeated having ridden the storm
Dry land rocking after long night at sea
Vision blurrs as I search for horizon
Heard tales of others now its happening to me!
Thank you Gill and Jude and only sorry that you do both know the feeling! Do hope you soon better Jude and very very sorry that your migraines seem to be following the pattern mine took on when I was in my fifties.
ReplyDeleteOddly the headache in the poem which had been with me for 3 days off but mostly on, was finally gone after I finished this poem at 1 in the morning! So the 'La nuit blanche' cured my insomnia, the 'When I was a giant' poem shifted my dreadful anger and rage, and now a poem to lift my headache! Magic!
Sally, I've just been reading Leonard Le Sourd's book "The Best of Catherine Marshall" and had just been reading the chapter "The Mercy Prayer", and so I pray it for you,
ReplyDelete"Have mercy on Sally, O Lord, thou Son of David."
It's a good book by the way. If you've never read any of Catherine Marshall, it'd be a good place to start!