World Poetry day: It took

This is an older poem I wrote and I now present it to you for World Poetry Day.

I am no poet but I do from time to time feel in the groove to write poetry. And some are good and some not so good. But what counts is it sort of helps me work through an emotion.

So here is. “It Took.”

Chronic pain takes a lot. The price and cost and impact is immense. And just when you think it couldn’t take any more… it takes more. It can strip you to just existence and not a life. It can destroy your quality of life. And you lose so many days to it. And you can be stuck in survival mode when it isn’t managed. It can be a hell that you cannot get through without proper, effective treatment.

And surviving unmanaged pain, well, the pain almost took me. And I wouldn’t be here today if I had succeeded. So it could have taken my very life. And that is why pain management is vital no matter what they say these days about the opioid epidemic. You don’t treat or manage pain… and the cost is more than we can pay.

But no matter how much it takes, and it takes a boatload, it never took me. It changed me. I carry this pain and it affects how I move in the world. It affects my Being in the world. It limits me. But I am still me. I have goals and dreams. I have my core sense of self.

But, oh, it tried to take my self-identity and self-worth. It tried and tried. But I survived. And I remade my sense of self. I built back my self-worth. I will not allow it to take me.

See other awesome poems:

Poem: Life story

Poem: Shattered

Poem: I tried (for migraine)