I have neuropathy in both of my feet
And in one of my hands when it rains it
All reactivates like a superpower telling me
Dance now or you will get stiffer live as you
Choose be the arrow or the quiver you decide
And when I listen woefully to the incessant
Chatter distracting us from life's purpose
Rue-ribbons wrapping themselves insidiously
Around hearts cemented shut spontaneously
I admit I am angry and angry is a theory
That railing against wrong will dissemble it
But what if instead we celebrate its opposite
I'm not saying I have the answers or anything
But questions but let's be honest oxygen's enemy
Is ignorance if we lock the revolving door eventually
Suffocation-ignored what's beastly will be lured
Into a kind of hibernation which is better than any
Unnatural fixation when chemotherapy works best
Is when one can give the rest of one's body a rest
You say to yourself as it drains from the bag into
A kind of cellular drag turning poison to medicine
"I'm going to heal from this and rise above!"
Your only job in such moments is to summon
Hope's love for more hope you promise yourself
You'll treat yourself and everyone kindly no longer go
Through your life acting blindly for those who choose
Not to comment on Hate's bloody bruise I empathize
You have too much to lose, perhaps; tenuous in your
Hospital scrubs the lights flickering like memory doves
It hasn't been long enough to forget for worse and for
Better what's stone and what's bread what's lost or
Just missing temporary temporal torture depleting
Future's confidence as much as bolstering ambition
Behind every goal so much determination why do we
Sit around tables retelling inspired stories of ancestors
Why does anyone tell stories to anyone else
We know it is to be heard and deemed worthy
Human enough to warrant love or at least respect
Let us not forget what it means to protect ourselves
From the elements before it's too late to ever recover
Bundle up now or forever be fear's silent monger
History is the most fickle lover leading us to believe
We are special because we know better
We have learned our lessons the hard way it could
Never happen again neuropathy is caused
Apparently by traumatic injury or exposure to toxicity
But I wouldn't trade mine for anything because I am
Alive and able-bodied otherwise eyes open wide
Still mystified by this thing called endurance
Endemic in everything except true malevolence
