Poem For ALS

IF YOU TURNED AROUND

You will not turn around, for if you did….

You could not bear to look into my eyes and see the grief that overcomes me. You could not handle seeing my desperate attempts to put my arms around the ones I love so much. You could not handle watching me try to walk toward them and fall hard to my knees. You could not hear my laughter or my shouts of joy from days gone by. You could only imagine me trying desperately to cry out in my grief. You could not hear my voice. My words are locked deep within me. I can not speak. Those whom I love can not hear my voice but my thoughts surround them every minute of every day of my life!

I feel complete despair; it is hard to breathe! I can no longer plan for my tomorrows…

I try to get through this day that haunts me in my despair.

If only I could Dream my Dreams and know that perhaps one day, at least one of them could come true.  If the world would turn around and see me!  If the world would try to feel my pain! If the world would hold HOPE with me!

I want to weep as I fall to my knees and plead to God…. “Why can’t they find a cure?”

It is then… in those moments of my despair… when I again realize that if you turned around, just one time, and looked into my eyes and allowed me to touch your life….

You Would hold HOPE with me. You Would find tomorrows with me. You Would fight for me. You Would never again walk away because…

You Would have found someone before you who needs your strength and courage to stand together and stare straight into the face of this disease we call A.L.S.….

You would see…

someone who could walk if you would only hold their arm and walk with them…someone who could hold you close with what little strength they could gather and leave the rest up to the memories they have of holding you… someone who would tell you how much they cared for you because you could see it in their eyes!

Then the world, together, could walk arm in arm toward their HOPE with the Faith in their hearts that there Will One Day Be A Cure….

Then, from within the stillness of that moment, I am given my Dream because….

YOU TURNED AROUND!

This poem was written to increase awareness of A.L.S. It was written to inspire those fighting this disease to never give up Hope because one by one, the world IS turning around. Each day, someone else is made aware of this disease. Each day another person turns around and reaches out toward a loved one or friend with A.L.S. and stands strong with the conviction in their heart that Together we will find a cure…. and as each day passes, another person turns around and stands facing this disease and the fear of it; looking ahead to the day, when the world will say, We Have Found a Cure!