A Bitter Pill by Suzy Rowland

Arts Richmond

Online - 23 June 2020

A bitter pill

This creeping virus
rampaging through the family
dripping unstoppable envious heat,
a threatening cough rattles in homes and hearts.

Where did it come from this
violent germ of dis-ease, contaminating relationships,

with calamitous grace

without even showing its face?

Sickening absences, temperatures soaring new lives arrive,

old one’s departing
why is the family, where is the family,

that is not rotten to the core?

The fever has peaked
we will live through the dying
that monstrous cough at last is subsiding

Wait! we must never submit to this again - how to arrest it,

what can be done
to stem the return of this terrible germ?

Just one pill a day? Forgiveness -
Is all that it takes.

The bitterest pill with the greenest of tastes,

It works with persistence, becomes habit-forming
this non-miracle cure feeds on cultures of learning.

Suzy is an author, Autism & ADHD Specialist, CBT therapist and a poet. Suzy’s son was diagnosed with Asperger’s and ADHD aged nine. Suzy's new book S.E.N.D. in the Clowns is out in September, her poetry collection is available on www.songsofmysoul.co.uk

Poem for the Day A Bitter Pill