It is the helplessness that stings,
Feeling you can’t change a thing,
Watching your friends suffer and die,
While doctors and researchers stand idly by.
“It’ll get better…” but sometimes it won’t;
Often, we must simply learn how to cope.
Cope? That’s a ruse, a trick, a cruel joke,
A deception, a distraction, an ill-conceived hoax.
The best we can do is survive another day,
Keep the darkness in check and death at bay.
They have no real answers, and so they proclaim,
“It’s all in their heads. The patient’s to blame!”
They turn a blind eye to our struggle and pain,
Our protests ignored, our petitions made in vain.
They won’t lift a finger – perhaps they don’t care –
That our symptoms become harder and harder to bear.
No swift interventions, for we are “too complex.”
Best to pass us along, though we strongly object.
Above their pay grade; we must find someone else,
But our options are few and good ones far less.
Where are we to go and what are we to do,
When the “best in the business” haven’t a clue?
We languish and decline, left to ourselves,
Inadequate treatment – why is there no help?
We are here, and you see us; we’re aware that you do,
So, why turn your backs, when you know what we go through?
It is easy to get bitter and want to give up the fight,
When no one acknowledges or cares about our plight.
We are tired and discouraged, in need of relief,
Ill-equipped to lead the battle, worn down and weak.
Want to throw up our hands, but we can’t take a knee,
Can’t shield our hearts from the anguish we see,
Our people are in bondage, locked in a cell,
No solutions, little hope, lost and unwell.
We cannot falter or stay silent and meek,
Must press ever onward for the changes we seek.
So, we’ll steel our bodies, wasted and frail,
For the uphill battle and the rocky trails,
Spent and lacking, but determined to persist,
We’ll raise our voices and shake our fists.
That my friends, is learning to cope,
When your world burns around you and you hang onto your rope.
Though dismissed and abandoned, we are fierce and defiant,
And they will never break us or extinguish our fire.
Feeling you can’t change a thing,
Watching your friends suffer and die,
While doctors and researchers stand idly by.
“It’ll get better…” but sometimes it won’t;
Often, we must simply learn how to cope.
Cope? That’s a ruse, a trick, a cruel joke,
A deception, a distraction, an ill-conceived hoax.
The best we can do is survive another day,
Keep the darkness in check and death at bay.
They have no real answers, and so they proclaim,
“It’s all in their heads. The patient’s to blame!”
They turn a blind eye to our struggle and pain,
Our protests ignored, our petitions made in vain.
They won’t lift a finger – perhaps they don’t care –
That our symptoms become harder and harder to bear.
No swift interventions, for we are “too complex.”
Best to pass us along, though we strongly object.
Above their pay grade; we must find someone else,
But our options are few and good ones far less.
Where are we to go and what are we to do,
When the “best in the business” haven’t a clue?
We languish and decline, left to ourselves,
Inadequate treatment – why is there no help?
We are here, and you see us; we’re aware that you do,
So, why turn your backs, when you know what we go through?
It is easy to get bitter and want to give up the fight,
When no one acknowledges or cares about our plight.
We are tired and discouraged, in need of relief,
Ill-equipped to lead the battle, worn down and weak.
Want to throw up our hands, but we can’t take a knee,
Can’t shield our hearts from the anguish we see,
Our people are in bondage, locked in a cell,
No solutions, little hope, lost and unwell.
We cannot falter or stay silent and meek,
Must press ever onward for the changes we seek.
So, we’ll steel our bodies, wasted and frail,
For the uphill battle and the rocky trails,
Spent and lacking, but determined to persist,
We’ll raise our voices and shake our fists.
That my friends, is learning to cope,
When your world burns around you and you hang onto your rope.
Though dismissed and abandoned, we are fierce and defiant,
And they will never break us or extinguish our fire.
