Extent: Reaching for Relief

Ah, at last I saw
The source of this latest pain,
As the lightening flashed
And then came the rain!

My aches and pains
Predict the weather
And so I should have guessed
This storm was coming together,

In the meantime,
I’ve had to resort
To pills I rarely use,
A muscle relaxant is what I chose,

To relax my shoulders
And my legs
And hopefully
This will bring relief

But while I waited,
I listened to the news,
From around the world
On the BBC World Service,

It’s not exactly
Meditation, I know
But it engaged my mind
On something else,

Forgetting about
My problems and woes,
By focusing on what else
Is happening in the world

And after a while,
The medication began to work
And I could move and stretch
With much less discomfort
And then, at last, go off to bed.

Extensively: Growl!

All worn out
By a blizzard of activity
And a gale of bad tidings,
Both at home and abroad

And to top it all
Woke up too early,
With such pain in my shoulders
I could barely move

But up I got
And moved around,
Moved around,
Achy and cranky,

Stumbling to the kitchen
For a cup of coffee,
Infuriated by the news
And ready for a fight,

With a, “how dare they?”
And a flurry of curses,
For the untimely demise
Of the greedy and the miserly;

The folks in these parts
That run the government,
Who seek to short-change the public,
While adorning themselves in gold nuggets!

But, what did I expect?
I saw this coming
But sometimes I wish
I wasn’t so accurate!

Prognosticating bad news
In a way that is so exact,
So matter-of-fact,
Making Nostradamus
Seem like a mere crackpot.

Extensive: Doubt

What to say,
What to say?
I’m in such a rush today
And on the way out the door,

I have to work,
Which is something of a perk
When so many others
Have to keep looking,

I’m grateful for that
And it gets me out
From under the bed,
When I’m feeling bad or just fed up,

I’ve been listening
To the news
And looking for clues
About what’s coming up,

Not sure what’s happening,
Whether fair weather
Or foul
Is about to arise now,

Everybody’s a’jitter
Awaiting the next twitter
About what’s going on
And where we are all going;

Trying to see
Our destiny,
While carrying on
With what we need do;

Makes a big headache
Which no painkiller can reach,
Standing o’er the breach
And holding one’s breath,
Thinking, “what’s next? What’s next?”