Pain lives...

Pain lives in my knees. Knocks at my hips. Shakes up my spine and does cirlces around my heart. Pounds under my skull so that my thoughts jumble up and that's when pain so obviously takes up its place at the corners of my mouth when I stretch it wide and laugh extra loud. Pain hides down under my skin, right below the surface, so that sometimes it bumps up and I cover it with jackets and band-aids and smiles. Pain lives in each hug and kiss and hello and especially good-bye. Sometimes it aches and sometimes it sleeps, but the pain is always there.