the power of pain

I've been sitting at home for a few days
nursing an infection in my tooth
I haven't been able to talk a lot
my mouth cries out as soon as it's 
almost
time to take my pain meds

it's been a process of going inward
of reaching into myself
for strength
and patience

and I can remember other times
when my body needed me like this
when my heart needed me like this

but I ignored it
because it wasn't 'real' pain

the physical, diagnosable stuff
I respond to immediately

my aching heart
sometimes has to wait until...
there's more time
there's more space
there's a....good enough reason

learning comes in all shapes and sizes
perhaps as small as the shape of a tooth