8 pints down

"8 Pints Down Voice Recording":http://vocaroo.com/i/s0I7m7F8j5s9
Just so we're clear, I am not making these voice recordings to suggest how the poem should be read. I am in no way a professional actor or reader. It's just that I have become increasingly aware of the needs of blind persons, who, even when they can get proper readers, often experience headaches from using them.


You make me feel 8 pints down and, unfortunately, still breathing.
Why still breathing? Why not dead? The blood pools to the floor.
It drips out of wounds unseen, unheeded, unbelieved in and is away.
Yet here I stand, breathing, for no discernible reason. Must I continue?
Should I continue? Would it matter? I'd need 8 pints down to make it.
Drink them down, buoy me up, and once more into the breach, dear friend.