Plain to see

The singularity of pain

Dynamic

Isolating

Debilitating

Compounding

Hyperbolic

Frightening

Intensifying

Seemingly without respite

The pain of a stubbed toe

Of contracting uterine muscles

Of a dash of the shin into the edge of the table

Of tiny joints in the knee collectively ganging up on you

Exactly the same yet exactly different

Pain is unifying

Though solid yet fleeting

A thoughtful "I know"

A thought "this is the last of it now"

Small kindnesses we give each other

Making it just a little bit more bearable

Pain lives in the brain

Pain you can exorcise methodically 

If you just calm your frayed nerves

Control your breath, gradually unflexing

The tightly held fists

The strained thigh and glute muscles

Pain is thus, purely physical, if only you separate the you from the you feeling it

Pain shared is pain saved

Pain spoken about is pain dissipated

Pain written about is pain cathartically removed