What Gnaws on My Spine

Awakening back pains are a strain on my brain.
What I thought was the rain
And arthritical pain,
Was far from the answer, the doctor explained.

What you’ve got here are teeth
That lie deep beneath
Your lower spinal frame.

I listen in awe as he starts to explain
That what I was feeling
And my terrible screaming,
Was not from a dream,
But simply a twin
That settled right in
And began to devour my spleen!

My backache is from this invader
That grinds on my spine like a saw.
And all that remains of this twin inside me
Is a mouthful of teeth and a jaw.

I feel an attack as it gnaws on my back
When I lay on my back, that’s when
The teeth start to bite
In the middle of night.
I wake up in pain yet again.

The doc called it Lillian, my sister inside.
I screamed out in pain when she gnawed on my side.
There’s nothing to do!
There’s no way to sleep!
The doc says that Lillian is one in a billion
And I can’t live without her;
She makes my heart beat.

So it’s off now to bed, the worst place I dread.
I’ll do anything to fall fast asleep.
But I won’t be surprised when I’m closing my eyes,
That it’s she who starts grinding her teeth!

I’m just sick of the jokes
That I’m getting from folks
For telling of Lillian, my twin.
Because everyone believes that I’m telling a lie,
But my sister, in fact, is what gnaws on my spine!