Poetry about Multiple Sclerosis

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It is a little known but interesting fact that many people with chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis using poetry to explore and express their feelings about the disease.

Mel Penman has very graciously given us permission to publish one of her multiple sclerosis poems on the blog.  It would be great if you could use the comments section to let us know how well you feel Mel has managed to capture life with MS.

Please feel free to add your own poems in the comments or even links to any MS related art works.

This Thing

By Mel Penman

I’ve got this thing but it ain’t got me
I’m living with this reality
To know my limits, not overdo it
To have my way, and work right through it

This thing is with me every day
But it won’t get to me, no way!
I’ll fight it to the very end
My constant, but unwelcome friend

This thing will try to get me down
And push me down into the ground
But I am strong, I won’t deny
This thing won’t stop me, though it may try

I’ll live my life as I have planned
Me and this thing, hand in hand
It may take me a little longer
But hey, it’s making me feel stronger

This thing won’t stop me getting where
I want to be, I will get there
To where I really want to be
And show the world, this thing and me

And

Time for a Moan

My back is in agony
My legs are too!
My hands won’t do
What I want them to do!
I can’t turn my head
Without feeling pain
Oh why must I go through
This over again?!

The simplest tasks
Take forever to do
To walk anywhere
Takes an eternity too!
My body is shattered
My brain is confused
I’m feeling completely
Battered and bruised!

When I’m shaking and numb
And my body won’t go
How do I cope?
I really don’t know!
But I carry on going
Although I am sore
Until my body screams…
“Please! No more!!!”

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 Posted by admin at 2:31 pm
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1502332987 Rosemary Wolf

    Through The Eyes of the Disabled

    by Rosemary Wolf

    God has given me a gift to share each day.
    Even though I have trials and hardships, I will do my best in
    every way. To share my love, show mercy and grace; To give to others
    in ways they do not know.
    I struggle to stay awake and even to move about. I fall down
    constantly and so fatigued. I just want to shout!
    But one thing I can do is pray and love, which is my gift to you all.
    Life is precious and time is short.
    I will not waste it on pity for myself.
    I will spend it on my family and on others all that I can.
    That they may see the light shining in me, so it will influence
    them to be the best they can be. I have been put down by doctors,
    and by family and friends, I am misunderstood. But I will go on
    and share my gift for your good. Life is still worth living even
    disabled through my eyes.

    Copyright 2003

  • Michelle

    I write Poetry too as a way of releasing the feelings it leaves me with and also sharing with others how ms makes me feel its a day to day battle and poetry is a great release. these poems are great, I can so relate to them thank you for sharing Mel, I’ve been fortunate to have some in the pathways magazine this year and am looking forward to the thought of sharing them with others. its a great feeling when someone with ms relates to how you feel through your poetry and also even more so when non ms sufferers say wow is that what its like! It feels like they can understand better through the poem,

  • http://www.youtube.com/12stepp 12stepp

    I’m an alcoholic with MS,I was 20 years sober when I had my first attack and I had been truly happy with my life working the steps. Its been 2 years and I’ve accepted I got screwed, I cant even get disability cause my wife make just enough money.I’m happy anyway,Ive been recording 12 step meetings since 2000 and its kept me spiritually fit and in turn keeps me mentally fit and I stay physically fit. It starts with God, I just started recording a beginners meeting being led by a sponsor and his sponsee and everybody is learning to get closer to their God or their source of strength whatever it may be.
     http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB3A1682ABE1A4038the site is http://www.youtube.com/12stepp  

  • http://www.facebook.com/yvonne.decelis Yvonne Decelis

    Thrill Ride (by Yvonne Decelis)

    It’s a slow roller-coaster

    every day

    I feel my brain peel away

    layer by layer

    piece by piece

    it’s much smaller 

    now than it was

    fifteen years ago

    everything is a little harder to do 

    now than it was

    ten years ago

    five years ago

    yesterday

    this morning

    now…

  • Livingforacure

    Drugs sweep through me;

    my mind numbs.

    Numb hands and feet,

    a matched set of dense fog.

    Head nods off into dreams. 

    I cannot rememberhow far I am from Death,

    the numb swath of his hand.

    Kit Minden ©2011

  • http://twitter.com/lil_suf Stephanie Sufian

    MyStery of Life

    Tingling, numbing, weird sensations
    Dropping and forgetting, too
    Scarred brain tissue and black holes
    What can I do

    I wish there was a cure
    Take all my worries away
    Abduct the pain and pressures
    If only for a day

    Throbbing migraines from bright lights
    Its’ driving me insane
    I wish it would stop and disappear
    I can’t even start to explain

    Extra expenses of medication
    Painful injections too
    Take me out of my misery
    Give me a clue

    This is like a mystery
    Hasn’t yet been solved
    A puzzle missing an important piece
    It has already evolved

    The many scars affect my life
     In so many different ways
    Physically, emotionally and mentally, too
    And all its following delays

    Steal it from my heart and soul
    I wanna be average again
    Not a way of describing unique
    Only normality to attain

    So lost in the new technology and tests
    Its effectiveness isn’t a cure
    Pull me from this body of mine
    I hold close so much fear

    I unwantedly took on this great challenge
    A fight for life and mobility
    To not know the struggles that come
    And all of the possibility

    Who wants to be defected
    A disease so unknown
    So much knowledge wanted
    But so little can be shown

    Keep fighting says that little voice
    When days are feeling hopeless
    Praying for a cure
    It’s the Multiple Sclerosis

    By: Stephanie Sufian

  • heather

    is there anyone else that you know that is sober with MS. I was dx in 06 and have been sober for 18 months would like to get in contact with more ppl that can relate to me

  • Esther Vasa

    Here’s one of my odes thanking my doctor during my last severe MS relapse. I have put together about my fight since 2002 and my feelings etc.,

    http://esthervasa.com/?p=1040 

  • Livingforacure

    My first winter with the dreaded monster,
    I feel its teeth scrape along my aching shin,
    as if the bone is laid bare, exposed in stark despair
    to the growl and claw of winter’s discontent.

  • Louise C. Seidl

    I liked the poems a lot.  They capture what it’s like to have MS in a succinct and rhythmic way

  • Mwilliams

    this is so true pain and eye sight awful  no one understands, but another person who knows one iith it or a caregiver..

  • Shessheppard

    Writing some poems helped a lot when my daughter was diagnosed.

© 2012 The Patient Experience Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha
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