An Ode to Prednisone

Oh dreaded medicine,
you tumble out of your container
as I gingerly shake you free,
beckoning me to experience
one moment of blissful relief.

The promise of the good you will do
does not necessarily out weigh the bad.
Rather, it is uncertain how the physical
will react when the mental is persuaded
to lose itself in your ugly glory.

You build up and cause me to feel
a state of frenzied mind as I
desperately search the cabinets
for all that I long for in the
pit of my stomach.

And then, without mercy,
your after affect lingers behind,
making my journey all the more difficult,
and causing me to lose heart.
The perpetual battle is begun again.

Oh small foe befriending me
with temporary relief from the eternal discomfort
that belabors my every breath,
do not think that I presume to understand
the need for you in my life.

-Nancy Briscar Martel

İMay 5, 1999

[ BACK ]