When symptoms are unrelenting it is easy to feel at odds and uneasy. It becomes a Mind Versus Body War. My poem was inspired by this understandable dichotomy between the “you” of the body and the “I”of the mind.
Body Talk
Robert Rodgers
Just as you twitch and flutter out of control
So I too am lost and restless
Just as you freeze without warning
So I too am stuck in a lifeless glob of concrete
Just as you talk in a silent whisper
So I too think thoughts that are timid
Just as you soak my shirt with sweat and wet
So I too am drenched with the tears of trauma
Just as you wear a mask on your face
So I too mask my full power
Just as you swallow food with gargles and coughs
So I too find my sorrow and grief hard to swallow
Just as you endure pain that never forgives
So I too endure the relentless pain of heartache and regret
Just as you flop and flutter from one step to the next
So I too rattle thoughts through my rusty hamster wheel
Just as you are tormented by confusion and forgetfulness
So I too puzzle over what step to take next
Just as you collapse to the ground without a heads up
So I too give up and give out with my head down
Just as you are numb to the pleasures of life
So I too reject its deliciousness
There is you see only one solution
One road to recovery
One path to health
For you and for me
We must become one you and I
For I am just like you.
© Robert Rodgers PhD
Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
www.parkinsonsrecovery.com
Olympia, Washington
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