Battling the Beast

Sometimes overt, while at first glance
You can tell by gait or stance
It conjures visions many dread
The MonSter's reared its ugly head
One can't predict it's evil course
Nor narrow down to one lone source
A sneak attack exacerbation
To science's exasperation
Some diagnosed by trial and error
Await the words in fear and terror
Two mere letters invoke distress
The fated phrase, you have MS
Will I stumble? Can I fall?
The symptoms, will I have them all?
Endless questions make you reel
What's that tingling that I feel?
It toys with us and plays us fools
This MonSter goes by no one's rules
And with this news at last revealed
You sadly think your fate is sealed
The urge to scream, Why me? Why now?
Will I get worse? Just when and how?
Each person's case is quite unique
Is not the answer that you seek
While I'll admit in self-confession
It can in fact cause some depression
The news of this unwelcome foe
Is not the end of life you know
It's been years since our first tryst
Though not friends, we co-exist
I've learned to rant, sometimes in rhyme
And take each day one at a time
Some days I have a healthy doubt
Yet I have pills to help me out
For those not having huge objections
There are also self-injections
So each new day as I wake
I say with every step I take
On bad days if I'm keeping score
A battle's lost, but not the war
Though I may fall, I won't give in
I'll never let this MonSter win!

By Kathy Caldwell Wills
7/13/04

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