Full-Time Job
Chronic illness is a full-time job,
One that requires the utmost precision,
In taking care of self day after day.
There is no eight-hour-a-day routine,
One-hour lunch break, two tea breaks,
Nor a plethora of other breaks
In-between, here and there.
There are no weekends,
No calendar holidays,
And no leave balance.
Leaves are not permitted.
It’s a 24-7-365 rigmarole,
Which goes on and on and on,
Like a perpetual machine.
It’s the most demanding job
There can be possible
For a human being.
It may be invisible to others
Who regard you as
Lazy,
Malingerer,
Careless,
Disinterested,
Unoccupied,
Loner,
Weird…
There is no end to the list.
Just like there is no end to the madness
That chronic illness is.
It’s a full-time job.
Reminding me of the job of a mother,
Taking care of her child,
Even after he starts losing hair in his forties.
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