The Vestals of the Shrine to Psychalgia

I am hungry for pain; it is what I eat
nourishes the brain, sharpens the mind
transforms bloats tricks the passage of time

The opium eaters seek to lessen the ache
while the cutters create wounds to celebrate the pain
each performing holy ritual to make it more true

facing the vague remembrance of a time before
of a place where it un-ends too soon

Could you...? Would you...?
trade it, unchoose it, intensify it
in lieu of the suffering
that enlightens the soul journey
forward, back-again, through it

Pain requires a sanctuary to worship inside
to exalt the deity, raise it on high
to meditate on silent screams heard
only by the vestals tending the shrine

if the pain were to stop what would we do?
expire from heartache?
pass away into mist? 

now the holy offices are complete
see the vestals bleed into myth