Reflux

It bubbles up in the throat,
Burning the tender; it scars
And sears the tissue
Which swells and tears; relay
Relates the change; the brain
Alerts itself through pains;
The pains distract
The mind and rend it
From immortal things,
And so the sense,
Sensing what is subject
To decay, itself decays: day
Darkens into time, and time
Brings its predictables until
The body dulls into a body
And its purpose lurches
Into law. There must be
Someone who reckons on the end
Of reckoning, and can find
A reason in unreasonable
Regress, in the bud
That freezes, in the blood
That ceases
Circulation, and in failure --
In temptation.