A Father's Poem About Diabetes

Steve Gilbert, the writer of the blog Without Envy, has a young daughter named Lia who has diabetes. This is a poem Steve wrote as part of Diabetes Blog Week. We think it's an inspirational Seussified perspective of diabetes.

Say No More

by Steve

Say no more,
Say no more.

These are pretty neat things,
I would say if I’m asked,
And the things that they do
Well…they seem up to the task.

But if I had my way,
I would tell you this much,
I would toss out those names
In one alphabet bunch.

I’d start over from scratch, with every last one.
I’d make it my job… dare I say, my mission
That every last one of those needful devices,
Would get a new name…a kinder edition.

Take Test Strip for instance…just for example,
After a spin through the Name Fixer-Upper,
The word it spits out so cheerfully better.
Now call it a Bodiddly Beandip Whopper?

Or look at this meter and alcohol swab,
Down the word chute they go… now up on the lever
The names that pop up on this dandy Name Namer
Could be Bartle or Bob and a Cootie-free Cleaner.

And who ever heard of an infusion set,
Who didn’t think first and foremost about it,
That an object of such animosity
Would serve us much better if we just called it Mit.

Finally there’s a thing called an Animas Ping—
Wait a minute just now… that’s not really so bad.
But pairing it up with the surname One Touch?
How about we lighten it up with Do-dad.

I hope you see now, it all makes perfect sense,
A machine that names names without any offense.
There is one more item I feel is amiss
Instead of a painfully sharp pointy prick,
I wish lancets would render a butterfly kiss.

Photo: Pexels