that’s lovely Chris x
Tors, you didn’t say whether the poems on your thread have to rhymne. This one doesn’t but if you don’t ban it for lack of rhyme, then I hope it will help someone who’s feeling lonely or misunderstood.
The Forum
These people are your friends.
You’ve never met them, never spoken to them.
They communciate by typing;
With each key stroke they can comfort, advise, inform, empathise.
They can even send hugs across the ether.
They understand exactly how you feel,
But you don’t even know their real names.
nottsgal that is a lovely thought in words. Poetry doesn’t hve to rhyme it just has to touch a chord. love this thread Chris
Hi Tors
I was very moved by your poem “I don’t know how I did it…” I had started to feel that I had lost myself but your poem hs made me understand the reason why I have done all this and although I now have a few bits missing I am still me after all.
I would love to share it with some friends if that is OK with you, but would understand if you say no.
DaisyGirl xx
I’ve only just found this thread - thanks to all for sharing; your words express such a range of emotions so eloquently.
Hi
These were written last year. My children were 2 and 4
The Cure
Her breath on my face
His dried tears in the nape of my neck
Her soft hair and head on my shoulder
His chubby hand on my chest
Her deep blue eyes looking into mine
His searching, sleepy arms, recognising my skin and relaxing
The prayer of a 4 yr old (overheard)
“Please Lord, make my mammy better and don’t forget her”
Dx
Deb, they were lovely poems. Second one’s a killer isn’t it!
Daisy girl, I’m really pleased that you liked my poem so much and you are more than welcome to share it. I read it out at a talk I gave last week to my local Women’s Institute (not as fusty as it sounds, it’s one of the new young breed of WI with ladies in their 30s and 40s, plus the more traditional older membership. I read this poem and the one I started this thread with, plus I read out my first ever post on BCC which, when I reread it, really explained that first few weeks of dx. Think I made a few ladies cry 
, but also raised awareness and explained the reality of BC a bit too. The poems, my post, plus my “changing locks” photo gallery were all well received. I would encourage anyone who feels they can to spread their story round as much as possible and if using my poems helps then I’d be honoured.
Also, whilst I’m whittering, as far as I’m aware, many very clever famous poets (whose names I obviously know but can’t quite recall just at this minute) write and publish non rhyming poetry and so that’s also very welcome here!
Keep posting/reading
Vickie
Ugh Deb, big lump in throat!
Vickie, great idea to read them out. I reckon it would help a lot for a ‘newcomer’.
It’s fascinating to hear how cancer has affected different people in differet circumstances, and at different stages of treatment. Many a true word spoken in a poem.
Thanks Vickie, I cannot believe you managed to read it out, I cried nonstop for nearly an hour (including whilst I wrote my post!) you are a special person with a special gift.
I am useless at words and articulating my feelings (doing a good impersonation of Taz the Tasmanian Devil at the moment) your words (and all you other clever poets on this thread) have brought me back to me, I cannot tell you how much this means
Thank you all (crying again!)
DaisyGirl xx
Don’t
Don’t call me inspirational or brave please
I’m just having treatment for this stupid disease.
Don’t say you couldn’t cope if it was you,
We both know you would; you’d have to.
Don’t talk about my spirit and fight;
You don’t see me crying helplessly at night.
Don’t say you always look really well,
I don’t go out when I’m feeling like hell.
Don’t ask now have you finished your cure?
Recurrence will worry me evermore.
Don’t ask is treatment all complete?
Tamoxifen for 5 years keeps up the heat.
Don’t assume cos I’m back at work I’m fine,
Truth is I’m shattered most of the time.
Don’t avoid me cos you don’t know what to say,
Better to be tactless than to stay away.
I started to write poems after b/c.this one i want to share with you all it was the one i wrote the night before the op.And i could hear myself say today is my day just before went sleep.
today is my day
the sun shines and my face smiles
today is my day
i feel as warm as the sun
today is my day.
tomorrow dark sky
and rain will fall
like my tears will fall
my fear inside is dark like the sky
but i will hold on to my day
the sun and the warmth and all will be fine
on my day
my day has come
theres a big storm and winds out today
just how i feel being in a storm
with high winds which blow me over to the ground
but then i had a thought
of my day
and picked myself up and shouted out loud
today is my day
What a lovely, lovely thread - so much thoughtful and moving writing. Some funny, some poignant and all authentic.
At the hospital where I had chemo, they had one of the those ‘gold fm’ type radio stations playing in the background, which always managed to play songs that were inappropriate. One day last December, as I sat wearing my headscarf and having the pre-drugging antisickness meds via a drip they played ‘wonderful tonight’. Here’s my plagiarism of it, a bit cheesy for sure, which I offer to you, as I did to those with whom I shared it at the time, you are all wonderful:
Wonderful Travelling Companions
First thing in the morning, she’s wondering what clothes to wear,
Slaps on the E45, covers her hairless head,
And as she wonders, 'do I look alright?"
A voice whispers, ‘yes, you are wonderful today.’
She goes for her treatment, people look up to see
This beautiful person, sharing the chemo journey
And as her face says, ‘will it be alright’
A nurse smiles, ‘yes, you are wonderful today.’
It is wonderful because we all see
The courage in your eyes
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just ‘do what you do because you’re you’
It’s time to go home now, with a bag full of pills
Walking or driving, flopping or bed
And now I tell you, as I lie in the dark:
My sisters (and occasional brother) - ‘we’re all wonderful tonight.’
‘My travelling companions, you are wonderful tonight.’
PS on the rads suite every time they left me to be zapped the CD began to play ‘I want to break free…’ Strange but true!
Hey everyone great poems and everyone is so true- Rev you had me singing along to the tune lol
Lizz xx
RevCat
It brought tears to my eyes, fantastic
Sorry in advance for this one, is slightly melancholy but catches my mood just now.
Remember Me
If you eat a hand of jelly beans,
Remember me.
If you ever eat dry cereal,
Remember me.
When sci-fi films and tv shows
Are devised and then released,
Remember I’d have been there
Storming through my popcorn feast.
If you see a big old chestnut tree
Remember me.
If you laugh out loud quad biking,
Remember me.
When you stand by your grown children
On their graduation day
Remember I’d have loved to also
Help mine on their way.
If the years roll on and forward
Remember me.
If i’m not there in body
Remember me.
Let my spirit be part of you
Keep me strong in your minds eye
Remember me to my children
Should i die, should i die.
Vickie
You are indeed a wordsmith.
I hope you will carry on being there for your children, family and friends for as long as you want, Vickie.
The fear that you raise will bring reality to so many…
Words of fear are so important to share…
Thank you for the eloquence you bring to so many silent voices.
Vickie that is beautiful and poignant and I am sure echoes the inner thoughts of others. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thankyou for your lovely words. Have been remunded this week just how much BC sucks, and how unfair it can be. But onward and upward, helps to write it down, solidify the thoughts and then try and move away from them!
So Much To Live For.
I wake in the morning,
I open my eyes,
first thing I see,
is the sun through the blind,
I rise from my bed,
though it may be a struggle,
now I can hear all the hustle and bustle,
of children getting ready to go,
and midst all of this,
I carnt wish for very much more,
when I have asked myself why?
when I have so much to live for.
Lovely to read your poem, made me smile on a down morning.
Heres another of mine.
Breast cancer ground zero
Theres a piece of elastic
Stitched to my back
It can stretch, it can shorten
But it never will snap.
Now this piece of elastic
Can be pretty long
You forget it is there
You feel really strong
But all of a sudden
As you move on with your day
The elastic will ping you
Back to ground zero day.
Perhaps its that niggle
You’ve had in your leg
The elastic pulls back
And you’re convinced it is mets,
Perhaps its the cough
And your rattling chest
The elastic pulls back
Has it spread past the breast?
Perhaps treatment failed
For a breast cancer friend
The elastic pulls back
You are at a dead end.
But onward and upward
You must claw back away
From cancer ground zero
From diagnosis day.
You put on your brave face
Your well practised smile
Although every footstep
Feels like a mile.
And you hope the elastic
Stretches longer and longer
As your mind and your body
Get stronger and stronger
But always its back there
Niggling away
The elastic could ping back
To ground zero day.