do people with gangrene feel the flesh rotting off of their body, or do they only notice once the smell starts to sting their nose?

i like to think that if i had gangrene, i would make small talk with the maggots tunneling through my skin

and i would use twine to re-apply the pieces of meat sloughing off my body

if i had gangrene, i would be special, and i've always wanted to be special

people would point at me and purse their lips in pain, a moment of shared sympathy, of telepathy

and i would do one of those shy shrugs, as if to say "i'm doing all i can!", and i would return to tying my skin back onto my bones

but one can only live like that for so long, before the rot has reached

the brain and the heart, as well as the surface