Thought for the Day

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Cure

The Cure

For years they prayed for the day,
the day they could stop
bleeding him for blood sugars.
staring at his food,
counting the carbohydrates,
insulin on board...

They wished they could forget it all,
all of the knowledge and lore,
the glycemic index,
site sensitivity,
medical adhesives,
long-term complications...

... as if it weren't all complicated.

They wanted to stop worrying
about the impact of joyful play
on blood sugar balance.

So they wished for the day,
the day they could get rid of it all...
boxes of test strips,
the sharp things, needles, lancets, syringes,
the technological marvels...
meters, pumps, sensors,
the tools of replacing beta cells
and mimicking
the way the body is supposed to work,
the insulin
would all finally be stacked up in a big pile,
packed up to be sent away.

They wished and prayed the day would come,
But diabetes left in the night,
And with it took their son.


When I first posted this on Tu Diabetes in the Poetry Club, I apologized and wrote, "Why did I write this? I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have. But here it is."
I'm sorry to be so negative sometimes. I hope that this blog is positive often enough to make up for it. It's sad that when I try to be profound, I'm often profoundly depressing instead of profoundly uplifting or inspiring.
The whole picture is bound to have some dark as well as light, though, when you're trying to show what it's like to live with type 1 diabetes.
So what made me write this?
I've certainly heard of a lot of diabetic children dying, and it's hard not to try to imagine how that must be for parents. And I heard a little bit of what it's like. And right after that, I read about someone else imagining what it would be like to finally have a cure.
The two ideas swam around in my head for a while, then collided. And the above poem is the wreck.

Here's another poem, a Haiku.

The Diagnosis

Your food is poison
But there is an antidote
It is poison too



For more positive feelings, watch this video, and help provide insulin to kids in need:
The BiG Blue Test.
November is National Diabetes Month, and November 14 is World Diabetes Day.

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3 comments:

Scully said...

Poems don't have to be pretty and sweet to be good. I really like that poem. But I also, am not a big fan of happy ending movies either. thanks for sharing.
I have a post coming up that you will want to read... soon!

Unknown said...

I really appreciate the transparency. Sometimes I feel like there's an air of "everything is okay"...but it's NOT always okay. And life ISN'T normal all the time.

And, well, I just appreciate it when someone opens their heart and pours it all out, even if it's hard to hear.

That's the beauty of these connections.

Run. Keep running. And don't stop.

Queenie said...

I thought it was a good poem and captures some of the feelings people with diabetes share. Keep writing!

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