Parkinson Poem

I Will Win is a Poem Submitted by Kenneth Nye Relating to Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis. You can look forward to hearing more about Parkinson's disease in a future post. Enjoy!

 

I Will Win! 

 

It begins as nothing more than
a feeling that something is wrong.
(Wonderful, how the body talks to you.)
At first. there are things I can’t identify.
Then, reaching for a napkin, I see it---
a hitch,
a ratcheting of my unfolding arm
as I extend it across the table.

Sitting on his examination stool,
the doctor wheels over to
look me in the eye.
"Mr. Nye, you have Parkinson’s disease."

It doesn't register.
"Parkinson’s is a chronic, progressive disease…."
Is he talking about me?
A chronic disease.
It has no cure?
A progressive disease.
It will get worse?
It doesn't register.....at first.

When it does, there is no future.
Nothing is fun.
What's the point?

But in time I learn that
feeling sorry for myself
doesn’t make me feel any better;
that there is
absolutely
nothing
I can do
to make it go away.

So I learn to live with it,
live around it,
ignore it,
occasionally tell it to go do something
obscene,
show it off and then put it to shame.
It's like living with a roommate
I can't stand.

And I learn that the only way
to win
is to treat it with distain,
to concede lost ground but to shrug it off,
to use it as a lesson in biology and anatomy,
and as evidence of the miracle
of the human body.

And I also learn that my world,
even with Parkinson’s,
is gloriously full
of family and friends,
love and devotion,
beauty wherever I look,
joy,
and, always and everywhere,
nature’s wonders.

This is not a battle of the flesh.
This is a battle of the spirit.

So, as the years move along
and my chronic, progressive companion
continues to weedle his way into my life,
I will adjust
with a shrug.

And I will win.