painful as a gunshot, precise as a pinprick.
Pavlov rings his bell
ever so delicately
Pavlov drags me along
though I yearn to be free
and every sensation
with laser precision
haunts all that I do
an indelible derision
but even though Pavlov released me
long ago, before a world anew
all that I do and all that I see
feels, hurts, rings like that little bell
louder than the solace of time