in this life

“So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one, Dr. Everything'll-Be-All-right, instead of asking him how much of your time is left, ask him how much of your mind, baby. 'Cause in this life, things are much harder than in the afterworld.' In this life you're on your own.”

-Let’s Go Crazy- Prince

We don’t treat strokes with
tough love. No ‘slaps in faces’
-- please -- for the sick?

mercy.
for cancer. Parkinson's, ALS, Traumatic Brain Injury. Leukemia.

Or depression? Yes. Depression.

(wounds, injuries, accidents)

We sweep our own stoops
We rescue our fallen -- the poor --
Above all; We do no harm.

In this life, (my) defender is me.
For who else will advocate?

(I was a fool to assume, incorrectly)

Who else will step up
for the man who washed
his hands to bloody digits?

bathed in television lighting -- painted
like a clown. the make-believe newsman.
the ‘limp’ is hidden. stoic for the red light.

OCD monster. (thankfully now crippled)

(memories, so long past)

What protection might I expect
with clouds of mist and whispers;
the obfuscation of reality? The lethal
edge so near.

Step up.

I will step up; and fight
like hell. For myself.
For who else would?

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