Raw eclipse

Back Pain

Oh yeah it's edifying
to limp or lump
your way across the endless room
feeling this ancient gait
ridicule your virility

sensing beyond the raw eclipse
of your performance
the audience wincing at the pathos
of a star body succumbing
to wear and tear

the slew of pain
inarticulate unreasonable obnoxious
runs up your leg
the leg that should be dancing
and thickens it
to a trees stoic remaining
with the roots tearing
at each dedicated step

but the worst is hoisting myself
up in bed
this is how my mother wrenched
herself to attention
feeble but grateful
for any attendance

that declining into effort
from impulse
and I taste mortality's
distancing from life