What is Pain?

A poem my Aunt wrote in 1966.

What is Pain

Is pain a mild burn,

or is it a father stern?

Is pain a child fallen down,

or is it the face of a sadden 

clown?

Is pain a toothache and a sore- 

throat,

or is it a nagging neighbor 

that gets your goat?

Is it pain when one steps on a 

thorn,

or is it one that is full 

of scorn?

Is pain a broken arm,

or is it a mother alarmed?

Is pain an infected appendix,

or is it a marrige that 

can’t be fixed?

Is it pain when one’s ligaments

 are torn,

or is it pain when one’s son 

goes to war?

Is pain a fractured skull,

or is it loved spirits ready 

to fall?

Oh, what is pain?

It surely is no gain.

July 1966

Author's Note

I left it just as my aunt had it hand written. :-)