Amputee

I am a trilobite
Scrambling on ancient ocean floors
Trailing a cloud of blood
Beckoning to eager carnivores
Dragging my heavy carapace
Up unfamiliar sandy shores
Blinking in blinding light, my vision blurred, unfocused
The beating sun fortifies defenses
Bones will mend. Blood will clot
Scars remind. I will adjust

I will
Fight! Survive! Fuck! Evolve!

Our tribulations are not packaged big and small
For what one of us stands to burden, another can’t lift at all
So when I say “I only lost an inch that day”
If you read between the lines I speak, you’ll see my disarray
Addiction! Depression! Prescriptions! Correction!
What happens in a blink cost hours under the knife
And thе surgery undoes the work I’vе been building all my life

At the bottom of the bottle
Whether alcohol or opiate
Fight! Survive! Fuck! Evolve!
Fight! Survive! Fuck! Evolve!
Brave a never-ending battle
When a bullet seems appropriate
Fight! Survive! Fuck! Evolve!
Fight! Survive! Fuck! Evolve!

I am a troglodyte huddling around a dying flame
I am a divorceé, cowering embarrassed and ashamed
I am an amputee waking in recovery room beds
Blinking in blinding light, my vision blurred unfocused

So I drink myself under tables
And I celebrate with friends
Because I stared Death in her yellow eyes
And I swore this ain’t the end
Because I’ve tasted bitter failure
And I faced my greatest fear
So when I sing along to my favorite songs
I know “I’m still fucking here!”