So Dr. Seuss' birthday was last week. Many don't know this, but Theodore Geisel died of throat cancer. Cancer has taken a lot of amazing people, but taking Dr. Seuss was beyond the pale to me. So in honor of his birthday, and with great affection, I present to you...
Oh The Cancer You'll Beat
(An homage to Dr. Seuss)
Hello and good day!
You are now on your way!
Your future is now within reach!
The options for you
Are immeasurable, true,
Like the sandy-white grains on a beach!
You're ready to start,
Like a fine piece of art,
So complex and so bold with desire...
All the nay-sayers "No's"
Or snide comments from foes
Can not douse your unquenchable fire!
So you start on the road,
And you carry your load,
And success starts to come in due time...
It all seems so endearing,
No evil's worth fearing,
You move from the stress to sublime.
Matters not what you do,
Each victory a coup,
Whether banker or teacher or dancer,
A doctor, a driver,
A rank nine-to-fiver,
A waiter who's quite the romancer.
And you wake, then, one day,
The pain keeps you at bay,
And you wonder, "Just what could this be?"
You ignore it away
To get on with your day,
But your life is no longer so free.
Things begin to get worse,
You spit and you curse,
You wonder how long you can take it,
You're young and you're strong,
But with things oh so wrong,
You wonder how long you can make it.
And then comes the day,
When you hear your doc say,
I'm sorry, my boy, you have cancer.
Will I live? Will I die?
Do I laugh, do I cry?
Countless questions, and not one good answer.
You'll lose all your hair,
And to be frank and fair,
There is nothing with this that makes sense.
You'll throw up, you'll lose weight,
You will never feel great
'til the day when you hurdle this fence.
But you know you're a fighter,
A clawer, a biter,
You'll scrap with this scourge tooth and nail...
You will ebb and you'll flow,
And you'll shrink and you'll grow,
All the while, you're so sick and so pale.
Oh the cancer you'll beat.
You are frightened at first,
Your mind wanting to burst,
With "Why me, and why now?" Oh the dread.
The scared turns to rage,
You leap out of fear's cage,
"Get your licks in, 'cause cancer, you're dead!"
The poison drips in,
And throughout all the din
That enwraps you like blankets of cotton,
The support and the love,
From all sides and above,
Helps to keep you from feeling so rotten.
You trudge through the weeks,
On occasion, get peeks
Of what life was once like when you started,
Yet it just grinds you down,
And you then start to drown
In the sad. Utterly broken hearted.
And that's when you do,
And yes, you will, too...
Reach the stage where you just want to end it.
The sick and the tired,
True agony, you're mired,
"Can't we stop? Or at least just suspend it?"
"I can't do any more.
I'm so hot, cold, and sore,
And it's more than one person should bear.
All the people who stay,
Just to brighten my day,
Should just know, at this point, I don't care."
"I am done being sick,
If I just had my pick,
I would stop all this nonsense and pain.
No more chemo or drugs,
No more kisses or hugs,
I am done. Send my life down the drain."
That is what cancer wants.
It incessantly haunts
All our thoughts and our dreams and our fears,
It wants no tomorrow,
It feeds on our sorrow,
And terror, and anguish, and tears.
And that's why we don't quit,
Why we clawed, kicked and bit
And kept fighting 'til all we could say...
Was that evil came calling,
We withstood the mauling,
And we lived to fight on one more day.
'cause with cancer, you see,
Matters not who ye be,
Someone famous or wealthy or poor,
A mom, sweet and mild,
Or an uncle or child,
Someone lively, or some crushing bore.
It gets most everyone,
You can't hide, you can't run,
But you stay and you stare and you fight,
And when all's said and done,
There's left standing, just one,
The "you," who had fought day and night.
You will finally grin
On the day that you win
And the end of your tunnel's pure light...
"You are now cancer free"
"Holy crap" and "Whoopee!"
"Good riddance, goodbye, and good night!"
Oh, the cancer you'll beat.
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