“The Answer”

  

c/ 2026 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(10-26)

 

 

I’d like to rise from a chair, without calling upon God

Or perhaps give my youth a wink and a nod

Yet before this mirror, stands a sorry sod

The answer is no

I’d like to think that science would duly impart

The kind of healing, to fix body parts

And replace what I had, right from the start

But the answer is no

 

In a room to be carefully examined and healed

On a mobile perch, rolled in on slim wheels

A game with the medical Roulette Wheel

But the answer is no

The doctor was pleasant, all business in fact

But the options he offered were not white or black

I could have easily had a heart attack

Yes, the answer is no

 

Barely able to move, or walk down the hall

No longer a candidate for summer baseball

Just a sidelined senior citizen, at risk for a fall

But the answer is no

I still have some time to live and endure

A span less appealing, with a destiny, unsure

In this temple of knowledge, there is no cure

The answer is no

 

I went home to sulk by myself with a drink

And use that leisure time to rest up and think

But all it did was bring me close to the brink

The answer is no

Guidelines and guardrails determine the course

Insurance adjusters keep their wishes enforced

And meanwhile I sit alone on my porch

The answer is no

 

Ugly, unwashed, and bound to be bold

I ponder the costs, unhappy and old

While indifference leaves me out in the cold

The answer is no

Genetics determined that I would arrive

At a point past halfway, on a downhill slide

At a place of disability, delayed and denied

But the answer is no

 

I no longer recognize the look of myself

And cannot maintain a proper level of health

All this seems to do is spend down my wealth

The answer is no

Flatly rejected and rightly rebuked

By masters of mercy in clinical suits

Somehow, I expected a different reading of clues

The answer is no

 

Struggling along from one room to the next

Too slow to recall the proper context

For the reasons I became a reclusive wreck

The answer is no

A separation from habits that kept me aligned

A parting of ways, in body and mind

A final surrender at the finish line

The answer is no

 

Charts for the hospital, and also for me

A chance to document my insufficiency

With the click of a tumbler for each spin of the key

The answer is no

With my prescription, I may stand once again

A story in the scribble from a physician’s pen

A cryptic assessment, or a cluck from a hen

The answer is no

 

A plea to the heavens, for grace from the Lord

Of bettered mobility, to be my reward

Yet here I am stuck with what copays afford

The answer is no

A number on a schedule, a name to repeat

Otherwise, with no coverage, to be dumped in the street

All for the purpose of a deadline to meet

The answer is no

 

If I do not wake from this dream of demise

I hope to be free of this sad enterprise

Privileged to sleep, after a closing of eyes

The answer is no

I won’t raise a ruckus over what has transpired

I would rather disappear in a flicker of fire

A communication conducted through a telephone wire

The answer is no

 

Born as a babe. to grow tall and strong

A joy to be heard in verses of song

But not grand enough to be kept here for long

The answer is no

My value as an entity is less than I thought

A sum signified by the coverage I bought

With years of hard labor, equal to naught

The answer is no

 

God bless the infirm, the weak and the sick

The ranks that I join at the point of a pin prick

This change happened slowly, yet incredibly quick

The answer is no

An x-ray inspection on a photographic spree

A check deep inside of one hip, and my knees

And that consultation is a fling of organic debris

The answer is no