Monday

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What does it feel like to wake up with multiple sclerosis (MS)? Here’s a quick peek, in rhyme, at the reality of multiple sclerosis (MS). The hairy MS MonSter, who consumes myelin, may be horrid indeed.


Petit Chaperon Rouge illustration by Gustave Dore (1897)

Back to Square None?
An M.S. Morning Revealed

The MonSter waits beside my bed
To jump and jolt inside my head
And set my weary soles ablaze –
Oh, Lord, here comes one of those days.

I swallow hard and try to rise,
And blotches block out both my eyes.
Then reeling, with the world a-roll
I make mere standing my first goal.

Now suddenly, I feel an urge –
But wonder, will I drain or purge?
Oh, no. I’m melting. Now I’m hot.
What is this gruesome thing I’ve got?

My brain is banging ‘tween my ears,
Confirming all my darkest fears.
My fingers flutter as I lunge
For anything before I plunge.

Alas, I stumble; one foot fails.
I tumble downward, heads o’er tails.
Then, flopping on the floor I find
Discomfort of another kind.

For suddenly, from top to toe
Electric shock sets me aglow.
Too weak to stand, my frame a-twitch,
I ask, “What did my nerves bewitch?”

The inner workings of this beast
Are scary, hairy – in the least.
No heavy lifting he’ll permit,
When once the myelin he has bit.

With all I have, I find my way
Into the hall, this darkest day.
I stumble slowly down the stair,
Then wonder what I’m doing there.

Despite my words, I can’t explain
This Monster bringing numbness, pain.
Tomorrow I may walk a mile;
Today, I’ll have to sit a while.
c2010 by Linda Ann Nickerson


Posted for a variety of prompts:
Easy Street Prompts (“inner workings”)
Heads or Tails (“square”)
Meme Express (“heavy lifting”)



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5 comments:

  1. I can't even imagine... although you have given me a glimpse.

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  2. Phew, it can't be easy living with MS, my Nicola's got Friedriech's Ataxia, and she gets really frusterated sometimes.

    Love the way you make your poetry rhyme, It reads like a speeding bullet sometimes, and I always read them out loud.

    btw, I think I told you about The NaiSaiKu Challenge? being back Online..

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  3. Your humorous poem is a testament to your bravery and your writing skill. I truly admire you. Thank you so much for sharing both.

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  4. Then sit today and walk a mile when next you can. Praying for you and admiring you at the same time for giving a persona to it - it makes it something we can identify and be angry at (and maybe tame at least some of the time)

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