The Long and Scaly Road
By Grace Kelly
If only I knew then what I know now;
Would I have had to scream as loud?
When my journey began all those years ago,
I never imagined how much I would grow.
*
You begin with a tiny speck on my head,
and didn’t stop til you’d evenly spread.
You seized my body, my soul, and, my mind,
Why did you have to be so unkind?
*
Psoriasis you are not my friend,
and no doubt you’ll be around till the bitter end;
to try me, to test me, do your damnedest to break me;
day in and day out, affecting me greatly.
*
Is there any possibility I might ever be free?
So I can live in this world and just be me.
The me that Psoriasis does not control,
Because the years of monotony have taken their toll.
*
You impede on my life like an uninvited guest,
lurking around, like a mysterious pest.
Psoraisis, I’d just like to say to you;
You’ll no longer define me, or the things that I do.
*
I accept the fact that you’re here to stay,
as I’ve exhausted all my efforts trying to make you go away.
And now we’ve begrudgingly reached the twenty-year mark,
I no longer feel like I am shrouded in the dark.
*
Yes, you are here, you are in my life,
but no more will you rule me by the edge of your knife.
I am taking back what is duly mine,
You will not steal any more of my time.
*
We’ve reached the end of this long scaly road,
as today, is the day, I will lessen my load.
So, if you could, for once, be so kind,
Please dwell quietly in the back of my mind.
*
I don’t know how we ended up here;
It’s certainly not a relationship I would hold dear.
yet here we are twenty years on,
still wearily beating on the same old drum.
*
But, Psoriasis, I feel different now;
How I got here, I don’t know, somehow.
I’m older, more mature, and wise,
No more will you possessmy cries.
*
You see, I’ve met some folk along the way,
who, like me, are still fighting to this day.
Psoriasis, I am stronger than you;
I now know how to survive the things that do.
*
And so to an impasse, the crossroads we have reached,
This is where, both, you and I, are to be released.
No more shall we be bound by the chains you held so tight.
This next leg of my journey, will be a solo flight.
*
You’re welcome to live quietly on my skin and bone
But, please remember Psoriasis,
It’s now me, who’s in control.
Photo by Andrew Downes, via The Irish Independent
Grace recently shared her story with The Irish Independent. Click Here to read the piece.
July 2016
