acceptance vs denial

Give your body long enough
& it will fail. Sometimes it's little bits and pieces
(You won't notice at first)
Sometimes big chunks go all at once.
Yesterday I was well. Today I am not.
A chunk of wellness broke off
while strolling an aisle of a thrift shop
Disappeared into gone forever
The doctor can see you today.
She'll proclaim the same.
It won't matter that she tells me what I already know.

She tilts her head down slightly when she says it
And then looks up at me
Like a parent explaining how monsters don't live under beds
Or why we can't have candy for breakfast.

I can process it for weeks, slowly think of doom
Or resume living again until the next chunk or bit falls away.

It's a choice, you know, to say you're dying.
I find a safer grace in living today.
Tomorrow, who knows?

Reviews

[Ed Hart]

yeah, losing big hunks can really affect our mood...i have conversations with death every day...it always tells me it's just doing its job, not to take it personally...i guess it's been so close for so long (nine major surgeries, with two this past year), it's tangible, and not entirely unwelcome...my best to you old friend

[An Ordinary Woman]

ah yes and thank you, the same to you my friend. Now that you put it that way, it's a bit easier to grasp...just doin' it's job. I like that! Thank you for the visit. It's delightful to have you stop by dearest Ed.

[Mauricio Montoya]

Lol,yes I love it, life is full of reject which we find hard to accept and defence,were denied the right to prove what's wrong is right. Lol I had to read again to understand what I don't have is deep inside, I can't hide that in which I must confront no matter what people think I'm not alone.this write is very insightful and it's core of our inner being.
Thank you for sharing

[Writergurl]

It's a choice, you know, to say you're dying.
I find a safer grace in living today.
Tomorrow, who knows?

Wow, to this ending stanza, this write is so good.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I think that failing body thing caught up with me after my sixth decade but I'm still hanging in there. The only thing that separates living from dying is time. Time is life and we must spend it wisely because it's the only one we've been given.

[Alfred Kukitz]

I ask myself why molecular medicine can't arrive today. The symptoms, pills, lab work just don't cut it. I'm ill after Vietnam. I will be all my life.

Regards,
Al

[Kelly B.]

Ahh I know the feeling.. falling apart sometimes presents slowly and then all at once. We lose pieces of ourselves constantly. Beautiful piece.

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

When we are young I'm not sure we give much thought to how important our health is...maybe more these days, but when I was young it wasn't something we gave much thought to. We were indestructible and now, many years later I feel it. You handle this with realism and grace. None of us, young or old, is promised another breath...you are so right, it is a choice how we look at "what is". Quite poignant a read.

[Donald Cole]

it is a choice, it is reality, i too am getting older, and no matter what living is the choice...........
God bless you.....
Don

[www]

I can see a film play out as I read. Life, getting older, health. I think about it everyday, what's it all really mean, what part do I play? It's not even a question of age because the young suffer mentally while the old suffer physically. Thank you for writing.

[Donald Meikle]

and the weirdest thing is it gets heavier to move on instead of lighter. Whiskey helps but so does wine, and then I get hungry.