Alone In Your Pericarditis Zone
By Susan Hill
You cook, you clean
At work you glean
That coffee break looming
Holds alien warning
Unbeknown to your body
Conscious nor soul
The world as you know it
Retreats into pall
Are you breathless or stunned
Catapulted to Mars
Brought to your knees
Metropolis please!
Get up ses-a-me
This pain I’ve but read
Is for those in throws
Of ambulance or dead
Of us whom seem lucky
Rushed off to ER
Pinched, tagged and punted
On trolleys we go
Cinches and punches,
Needles and pins
‘Lectromagnet vibrations
Fear let no-one in
No more precious an organ
Beats loudly and strong
Than the one we all live through
Delivering our song
Back home just a bed bug
Or lounge lizard lord
Retreat from the mainstream
Our all central cord
It hurts ses-a-I
Reclining on couch
It hurt ses-a-me
As I lurch, fall and ouch
Med whirlwind circus
Begins such abrupt
Activities so normal
Yesterday’s loft
Relax ses-a-me
For a boat one must row
Just for a spell
As I balance my bow
Gratitude I spell
Upon all whom I know
That no matter the swelling
I’m still here you know!
Work since long cancelled
The bills rise immense
Housework and homework
No cause less intense
Than today when I meet
‘Nother GP or geek
Filled with hope ne’er abandoned
For the health we all seek
Doc I’ll tell you a story
Of folk whom I know
This condition of uncertainty
Sure challenges our yow
It hurts when I breathe
Lean forward or back
Pillows and puffers
Yield naught on attack
My body it aches
From temple to toe
Days of relief
My heavens still low
Heaving and sliding
Chest wall to breastbone
Stretching and seething
Each cell through collarbone
Radiates up my neck
Out eardrums to helix
Via jawbone adjacent
Tongue left speechless
Shocking and shaking
Peri-heart things remiss
The soul that springs entire
… something’s amiss
Anti-inflammatories through steroids
Alternatives and kale
The pills and the potions
Yield resolutions stale
Piercing and punctious
Swelling and sore
The balance we’re seeking
Screams gladden us more
Few who are treated
In a three week sojourn
Know all to the comfort
Of pain least endured
No less is the pondering
Of why such the tonic
For those left a wondering
6, 12 months or chronic
Days are few when
A few hours melt
Into normal oblivion
Of normal heart felt
All of a sudden
Struck down again
This morning with beauty
Subsides into hell
Yet tomorrow she cometh
Absent sleep, rest or will
The sunshine still bringeth
The fight in our shrill
Begone broken heart bubble
Your pain, angst and tear
CRP, T-wave, troponin
Do quit or I swear …
No matter your hold
On my daily undoings
Your might ain’t in sight
Of my future, my viewings
So, friends near and far
Whom you ‘brace in your web
Peri-card-itis dear foe
Count your numbers and go
‘Cause no matter the plight
You’ve inflicted in sight
You ain’t gonna get us
No sir, ’cause we’re sprite!
