Born in Lyme Regis Dorset
a palaeontologist fossil collector
in the English Channel marine bed cliffs
and a coprolites (faeces) detector
who at only twelve years old
found the first two skeletons plesiosaur
and outside Germany
that of a pterosaur
yet as a woman who did not
always receive full credit
for her scientific contributions
and ineligible to join to their discredit
the Geological Society of London
while struggling financially
for her it was no shell game
to make ends meet as circumstantially
when selling shells by the seashore
the seashore shells she sold
were her start of the first shell company
by the Natural History Museum in London I was told
I would have to say the greatest performance of my life is survival
And turning bad things into something positive to help others
I survived severe trauma as a child, I was silenced and deeply hurt
I survived Cancer later, accidents, Lyme disease, near death experiences
I survived by working in human services to help others, giving to friends
And I assisted a leader volunteering at a support group in the area
I was an investigator and I pursued justice for many years
Most of all, I create as best I can to spread what I have in my soul
I write – I paint – I play piano
I hope that my words of truth will reach others however possible
I hope that my music will bring peace and relaxation
I hope that my paintings will bring happiness and inspiration
I turned the bad into good to survive because this can be achieved
I am also a mother to my loving, special pets who mean so much to me
We can always give and share and love and inspire others
Regardless of what we have been through, this is what I have learned
Heidi Sands
5/21/22
A 1st placement in The Greatest Performance of My Life Poetry Contest
Sponsor: JCB Brul
I feel the challenge.
Can I change the past?
Only the good Lord knows,
but I can try hard.
And what can one do
to achieve such a mammoth
enterprise? Don’t you know.
Only one thing suffice, an impossibility.
I pray that I might be given a chance.
Time creates a vortex
and into the past I am sent.
I shudder at the sights.
All evil lay behind me,
Murders, massacres, mayhem,
terrorism, turbulence, strife,
diseases, ugly like plagues,
still born babes, Lyme Disease*,
infections, dermatitis, blindness
and so much more, so much more.
Until I come to my destination.
The garden is decorated
with myriads of beautiful trees,
flowers spread their fragrance
enticing all sorts of flying insects,
but no one can be seen.
On the hill are two stately trees.
No one is to touch the tree
of knowledge of good and evil.
But why? Such lovely fruit
resembling sweet olives.
I reach up and began to eat.
A vortex of angry wind rises up.
And I am back where I was.
It is far best to think of the future,
for the past cannot be changed.
*unable to walk.
(I know this is a dark poem, but also factual. If you want a lighter poem, please read the few before this one *that I hope you will visit)
Some may say, don’t worry, make light of it
As if people may be causing an unnecessary fit
Truth is, I’ve watched the info. And numbers climb
I’ve also seen repercussions from tick carrying Lyme
China shuts down cities, keeping people inside
Unable to control it, with no safe place to hide
Countries scramble with travel bans, restrictions they cast
But, this particular virus hits two body areas and fast
San Francisco has already become an unsanitary place
Cases have started there, contacts unable to trace
A doctor says this is a pandemic, heading to be
Preparation is all we can do, with what we see
I say this as my compromised health system will kill
To face this true fact, takes very strong will
I pray for everyone affected by this nightmare
Because in a time like this, what is left is prayer
Heidi Sands
2/2/20
It was just this last week..
When the words, they did flow
For the first time, in lifetimes, it seems.
But instead of the hurt, and the pain and the guilt;
My words now penned, are words full of dreams
For the last many years,
up and down I have been.
Getting better then worse all that time.
Knowing not what I had; Nearly giving up hope
I discovered a name;
It was Lyme
Lyme has stolen from me;
things I’ll Never get back.
Took my body and mind straight to Hell
And a deal I’d have made
With the devil himself
To get out of the hell which I fell
But instead of the devil,
The deal I would make
Where at last I was starting to see
Though it took me awhile,
Many years if I’m straight
Found the REAL answers inside of me.
For what Lyme disease taught me through years of despair .
I am stronger than I ever thought
And at least for today, I am winning again
Had to fight for my life;
So, I fought!
I have survived trauma, Cancer, Lyme disease, Head Traumas,
Many surgeries, bowel obstruction and infection
For those with health issues, life can really hit rock bottom
Pain can be unbearable and also be ongoing
Near death experiences are as scary as can be
But, I tell you this because you can heal and you can survive
You can find ways to get through the pain
You can adapt however possible to still do what you love to do
Never give up what you believe in, no matter what
You can still create to get through things
You can still write, as much as you can
It is never easy, but it is in fact possible
To keep dreaming, to keep trying, to keep fighting
To be all you can be with whatever you are faced
You may feel stuck, but just not there yet and I testify
---- You CAN do it ---
Heidi Sands
5/7/18
Be aware folks, its the
Season for lyme disease.
Don't just say "huh"
For this does not cure with ease.
Spring raises up all that was dormant,
Its allergy season from All Types of bugs.
For all that rises up is but paramount,
To how you're giving cheerful hugs.
Observe for the sign and symptom,
From information to gain wisdom.
Bacterial deer ticks from the ground,
Vegetable planters this is not sound.
Now what's all this about lyme disease?
A bacterial infection not cured with ease.
Signs and Symptoms of Lyme Disease
Rash, Flu-like symptoms, Fatigue, Muscle and Joint pains, Severe Headaches, Facial Palsy, Irregular Heartbeat, Abnormal sensations in limbs, Inflammation at many sites, Cognitive problems.
http://health.facty.com/conditions/lyme-disease/10-signs-of-lyme-disease/9/#JjZX5MxFeQglP00X.99
So here we are in the 21st century
acting like a flock of birds that suddenly went blind
and flew into a red brick wall.
We have to worry about the outbreak of Ebola,
and ISIS murdering and taking over the globe,
and climate change that’s melting the ice,
and why there’s no sure-fire cure for Lyme disease,
and why our politicians favor their own personal agendas
over helping us citizens live a happy and healthy life.
Maybe we’ve become an illogical species
that treat the facts about how we behave
as a can of recyclables like a plastic soda bottle
or an empty can of peas or beans
or an unread newspaper gathering dust in the trash.
Maybe we think our current behavior
couldn’t be reincarnated as an instrument of our demise
even when we act like a distracted driver of modern-day car
that kills a Raccoon crossing the road to visit with his lover.
I wasn't right in the head, but no words were said except to the secretaries, a housewife, and machines.
I left weird messages about fake products like a kind of heating pad only different. I spoke bad spanish.
I was like a sad Jerky Boy but with no schedule or agenda; just depression and sometime pity sex from an ugly girlfriend.
Finally I hit a low point, heard my own fallible voice.
Talked for an hour to a too young housewife about Lyme and pick lines; about broken down cars, lost jobs, and suicide.
We talked in an interview style and my stomach filled with bile; it came to an end and she broke through my line with a question of her own.
She asked me my name to define the call as real and I gave her a fake name and hung up the phone.
If I explain you, that wouldn't help you
To understand the importance of a subject,
until you don't fail, you 'll never learn the values of a thing,
doesn't matter living is balanced or unbalanced that has swing,
Changing circumstances has everyone's effect,
you need to earn each single penny that's most defect.
you can or not become rich over a night
you want to live honestly or dishonestly is our fight.
you 're educated or illiterate a way for living you need to select.
you 're sufficient or need efficiency a precess our ancestor's hope,
developed communities, broken barriers to secure progressive crop.
when you doubt, raised a question, indicates you understand lot,
you dedicate contribution is important no care subject is cool or hot.
I'm a factor to live in present to walk forward with time,
to follow the roots of a problem to find the solution of lyme.
There's a heavy dew 'pon the ground
A gift from last nights rain
Then I saw the path whence was made
By an animal plain
Then I saw another path, too
They both came from the road
Then they converged in the front yard
Together was their mode
Two deer_a mother and her fawn
A youth of this years birth
Will it live to follow the path
By ancestors of earth
Deer were here then wiped out by man
Lyme disease disappeared
Gone with deer whose ticks spread it round
Now both are back uncleared
There's good_ bad in most everything
Now the garden fenced round
But the deer's beauty is enjoyed
All the year most profound
I can't get dates because of this tick on my nose.
Women freak out even more as it continues to grow.
Now it's the size of a nickel.
I've gotten myself in a pickle.
I keep trying but I can't get a date on Saturday nights.
Women scream in terror and start running from fright.
It's not easy knowing that the ladies aren't pleased.
And if that isn't bad enough, now I have lyme disease.
Being inflicted with this problem really blows.
Somebody help me, I have to get this ugly thing off my nose!
(This is a fictional poem.)
life lets me down
everytime i go back to my home town
catching up with friends over time
missing the farmer's spread their lyme
every year that's passed by
it's so hard to say good-bye
another funeral to attend
it's so hard to pretend
that i am happy
until the tears turn me sappy
life is so bitter
nothing could be fitter
then to say good-bye one day
to a life that's handed me nothing to say
but my words on paper
that puts the salad on the capper
There are many blessings in this life,
One is friendship to ease your strife.
A friendship lives within the heart,
You know it’s there when they do not depart.
Friendship is a special gift
For the sad days to give you a lift.
It’s a gift from heaven above,
Another way God shows his love.
When you find yourself down
And all you have is that frown
Sometimes it only takes a friend’s smile
To help you carry on that extra mile.
Edward J Ebbs - 1997s (sick with Lyme)
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