We’re inseparable, you and I.
Wherever I go, whatever I do,
From events of importance to the mundane daily trivia,
You are always with me,
An unrelenting presence
Consuming my body and penetrating my mind.
When you first introduced yourself,
I’d barely hit adolescence.
There was considerable head shaking, disbelief even.
“She’s way too young for this. How can this be?”
And they were right –
You were far too old for the likes of me.
Nominal interventions to get rid of you failed.
I learned to adapt and reluctantly accept that
You were here to stay.
Crunching, grinding, crumbling,
Bone eroding to dust,
Rattling osteophytes detach and stab into my nerves,
Gasping, whimpering, wincing and weeping.
Bone on bone, friction, abrasion,
Burning, aching, throbbing,
Limping, shuffling, hobbling.
You are much more than a degenerative disease.
You are a malignant parasite,
A sadist, a narcissist, a controlling monster,
A shameless attention seeker
Who heaps pain and humiliation upon me with every movement.
I reluctantly surrendered a part of me to you long ago
But your greed knows no bounds,
You always want more,
As you continue on your quest to consume me,
Utterly and completely.
But what will you do then, when the job is done?
When there’s nothing left for you to feed on, damage, destroy?
You have taken over my world,
And I have no choice but to adapt my life
To accommodate your gluttony.
My hopes, aspirations and opportunities
All modified, dashed or carelessly abandoned
As you, slowly but surely, dominate my past
And take control of my present and my future.
Disintegrating, decaying, fragmenting,
The fragile relentless rot of a dilapidated broken body.
You are my whole world,
You define me.
I limp therefore I am.
Bare Bones 