Pain On A Train

Arthur is riding fast for a person whose head is still spinning.

The cliffs rear up beside him.

The sea hisses through menacing white teeth. 

The sky teeters vertiginously.

A rock! He avoids it. No flies on him.

But in doing so he skids off the narrow cliff path and into a prickle bush.

Merde! Now both his knees are bleeding.

He gets back on the road. 

But he has lost time.

Pierre-Louis can be seen in the distance behind him.

Arthur keeps going, but Pierre-Louis catches up.

You're bleeding! says Pierre-Louis. Did you come a cropper?

Yes, says Arthur. Avoiding a rock.

Slow down, says Pierre-Louis. Jeanne Jugan is attempting to join us. And no doubt, she'll have ointment and plasters.

Don't need them, says Arthur. I'm used to knees bleeding. I always have scabs.

So I noticed, says Pierre-Louis. Is it something to do with being a poet?

Could be, says Arthur. 

I wonder if I would be any good as a poet? says Pierre-Louis.

If you wonder, you probably wouldn't, says Arthur.

Now I don't believe that, says Pierre-Louis. Let me try. It will give us a rhythm.

Okay, says Arthur. 

Any advice about starting? asks Pierre-Louis.

Close your eyes, says Arthur. 

That does not sound like sensible advice for a man on a bike, says  Pierre-Louis.

Momentarily, says Arthur. 

All right, says Pierre-Louis. You're the expert.

He closes his eyes momentarily.

And swerves off the road into a prickle bush.

 Curses, says Pierre-Louis. Now MY knees are bleeding!

Good, says Arthur. Let your emotions come out.

Pierre-Louis is not in the mood now, but he feels obliged, having asked for a lesson.

I commence, says Pierre-Louis, commencing: 

In unbearable pain I look back

Had I not asked for advice

Had I not followed 

Had I not closed my eyes and tumbled into a prickle bush

Had I stayed

Had I not spoken to a young man on the train.

I would have avoided this torment of pain.

He stops reciting.

What do you think?

I don't much like that rhyme at the end, says Arthur. 

What about it? asks Pierre-Louis. And it wasn't the end.

It wasn't? 

Arthur might have guessed it.