Pain turned me inward
and calcified me in spirals
like a saltwater shell
echoing its distant chorus
of breaking waves.
I spoke in repetition,
harmonizing with barstools
and a decade of lyrics
memorized in foresight.
I beat the eardrums
of old friends and hard drinkers,
until we slept together
in the white noise.
But that endless din
became a shelter
for my sore throat,
still raucous and acid,
to find its melody.
Slowly and singing
my bitter tune,
the empathy I lost
in self-preservation,
I regained in double.