ARNOLD MUNDUA
An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry
I wrote this poem while recuperating from the affliction of gouty arthritis and it is dedicated to all victims of this disease....
Ooooff…the pain is burning
It’s pulsating
It’s excruciating
It’s agonizing
The toe aches
The ankle aches
The knee aches
I can’t walk
The finger swells
The wrist swells
The elbow swells
I can’t hold
I moaned
I hissed
I cried
All in vain
I downed disprin
I downed aspirin
I downed Panadol
No help
I swallowed indomethacin
I swallowed colchicines
I swallowed amoxicillin
No cure
I quit red meat
I quit beer
I quit sugar
No improvement
I tried aloe juice
I tried noni juice
I tried herbal tea
Still the same
Oh---the pains strike again
The swells rise again
The pain killers gulped again
It’s Gouty Arthritis again
Come you there
Wherever you are Mr Cure
And heal me
And the million others
Give me new life
And new hope
Be my champion
And my reason to celebrate
Restlessly I wait
Eyes out and ears open
For your coming
With the everlasting pain