The Manhattan Sonnets - 9

And when I wake up, everything is pain.
  I blink my eyes and feel my face explode.
My skull is home to cactus spines, not brain.
  My mouth tastes like the inside of a toad.
I shake with drumbeats like twelve time bombs ticking.
  (What is that sound?  Wait -- it’s my cells dividing.)
Some stallion in my gut just won’t stop kicking.
  (Oh God -- that’s all my molecules colliding.)
This is what happens every time we play --
  For every late night laugh, two days of groans.
The bill comes due and I will always pay
  A price that troubles me down to my bones
     And swear you off for good, till you ask “When?”
     And I say, “Now,” and pay the price again.

Copyright 2009 Matthew J Wells


Other posts in this series:

Sonnet 1
Sonnet 2
Sonnet 3
Sonnet 4
Sonnet 5
Sonnet 6
Sonnet 7
Sonnet 8