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Like the waters of a tide
Life swells and ebbs in moments
Of clarity
Lost in tangles of confusion
And frustration
As clear as the foggy lakeshore
On a stormy night
 Aug 2016 Heather Anderson
Corvus
Spending a month in a hospital teaches you a lot about people.
The doctor that told me to shave my head or she wouldn't treat me,
The nurses that spent forever chatting to me
And giving me supportive advice about how my illness doesn't define me.
The woman who was given a terminal cancer sentence
And chose not to pay attention to it and defied it anyway.
How she sat next to me on my bed,
Told me that all suffering is valid,
And just because I'm not dying, doesn't mean I don't get to complain.
How she complains more about her skin problems
Than she ever complained about her cancer,
And that's OK, because pain rarely follows rules.
I never even learned her name,
But she gave me the words I hold most closely to me
On those days when I want to fall asleep and never wake up.
I'm allowed to scream and shout and rage against the pain
And the unfairness of it happening to me.
I just have to make sure I know where the line is
Between giving my darkness a voice and pitying myself.
I'm having tea with Life,
And his band of Disappointments.
They dine at my expense,
And they're a hungry bunch of guests.

Tea turned into Supper,
Where the Disappointments drank
My finest wine,
And Life wiped his cruel mouth
On my tablecloth.

You can't have supper without dessert,
So they ate up more of my
Food for thought.
And if you stay for dessert,
You may as well spend the night.
So they did
And burgled my pantry of hopes
For a midnight snack.

One night was lovely,
So Life cackled, "Why not stay two?"
And two turned to a week,
And a week turned into
My sickeningly merry guests
Moving into my dreams,
And inviting in Doubt,
To live with them too,
And of course
Pay no rent.

So I watch my chaotic household
Of a skull,
Where Life has made himself at home
And brought all of his friends.
I stare dully at my ruined
Dining room of thought,
Which they have dominated.
And look wearily for a spare idea
In my raided cupboards.

I've never been one
To evict friends,
So I suppose they're here to stay.
But learn a lesson from me,
And don't ever
Have Life over for tea.
Tolerance can have levels many

To pan over them all

Is not what many can achieve

Peace being on the summit

The path is hindered 

Not possible it is to bypass level any

Cause for the intermittent blocks

Is the inability to accept

That diversity doesn't hurt

Feel one can't the ways of others

There is no debate with that

But understanding can still be there

Harm there seems to be none

To be rational for once
 Aug 2016 Heather Anderson
Mims
Be lonely.

Be,
Lonely,

Sit with your thoughts,
Your fears,
If only,
To be lonely,
Meant to be alone,
I wouldn't feel the need,
To sit here as the days grow old,
I can feel so lonely,
I'm a crowded room,
Of broken dreams,
And hopelessness,
Anxiety,
Makes me,
Lonely.

But why?
Do i feel this way,
Because I neglect to let people in,
To touch my heart,
And make me feel less
ALONE
My friend at a distance,
Pushed out of sight,
Because my heart full of pain,
Couldn't win the fight,
A dull roar,
Of whispering demons,
A silence,
That crushes my very being,
If only I could quit being,

Lonely
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