Sickness Poems

Sickness Poems

Poems for when a Loved One is Sick

When a family member has an illness, the entire family can be affected. The way that the illness is dealt with has an affect on the entire family. Some mothers or fathers feel that it is best to discuss the illness as little as possible with their children because they don't want to worry them. This can often have the opposite effect. Because the children know something is going on, but they don't know what, it often feels more scary for them. It is often best to give them as much information as they ask for. In this way they will feel part of what is going on.

21 Poems About Sickness and Pain

1 - 20 of 21

  1. 1. I'm A Person Too

    I'm a CNA in a nursing/rehab center, and love what I do. I've been in the medical field for 14 years and couldn't ask for a more rewarding job. I wrote this poem by putting myself in a patients shoes while writing.


    • By Dawn Mazzola
    • Published by Family Friend Poems December 2010 with permission of the Author.

    Here I lie in bed again, Awaiting my next meal.
    A worker barges in my room, As if it's no big deal.

    What ever happened to courtesy? Just a little knock.

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    • Stories 16
    • Shares 2861
    • Favorited 49
    • Votes 1470
    • Rating 4.64
    Featured Shared Story

    I too worked as a CNA for 15 plus years and then I choose to do private home health care. I always respected my residents and my private clients and demanded that everyone else did. They each...

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  3. 2. Dementia

    My beautiful mum passed away on the January 20, 2020. I looked after mum at home for 10 years and then mum was placed in a care facility where she was for 3 years.


    • By Debbie Bell
    • Published by Family Friend Poems December 2020 with permission of the Author.

    Help me to remember
    What I forget each day.
    Don't let the dementia
    Take my memories away.

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 235
    • Favorited 4
    • Votes 44
    • Rating 4.73
    Featured Shared Story

    My friends Dad has this. She would love this poem.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (1)

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  5. 3. Changing Places

    I always felt that of the over 500 poems that I have written, this one was the most insightful as it was written when my older sister started through this pattern. Now, at 92, I am watching myself carefully and thanking God I am still OK. I'm also glad that I lived through the era when music was music and poetry was rhythm and rhyme. I am grateful for my file of special letters from people from all over the world who read my poetry and let me know they were amused, comforted, or inspired.

    • By Alora M. Knight
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2015 with permission of the Author.

    I see the sadness in your eyes,
    The times that you are knowing
    What's happening to your wondrous mind,
    The symptoms you are showing.

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    • Stories 6
    • Shares 1936
    • Favorited 57
    • Votes 534
    • Rating 4.58
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    Memories! I was 53, he 54 when the complications of Alzheimer's took him. At his prime as an exporter, his secretary fell for him. I left and visited Canada for 3 months, but on my return,...

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  6. 4. Living With Dementia

    Dedicated to every family whose parent is suffering with dementia or alzheimer's disease.

    • By Annabel Sheila
    • Published by Family Friend Poems July 2008 with permission of the Author.

    She's trapped inside the prison walls
    That used to be her mind.
    The woman that she used to be,
    Has long been left behind.

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    • Stories 20
    • Shares 1263
    • Favorited 23
    • Votes 1090
    • Rating 4.46
    Featured Shared Story

    Would love to read some of your experiences. I am currently caring for and have two care givers looking after my 80 year old mother.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (20)

  7. 5. Overdose

    This poem came to me as I visited my brother in the hospital after he overdosed.

    • By Julie Lee
    • Published by Family Friend Poems May 2008 with permission of the Author.

    Who do you see lying there,
    As you hold his wrist in your hand?
    I see what you see, but I know who I know
    My brother, your patient, the man.

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 82
    • Favorited 12
    • Votes 152
    • Rating 4.35
    Featured Shared Story

    It tells a touching and moving story using tight, easily readable stanzas. That's a rare combination. Nicely done!

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (1)

  8. 6. She Is Strong

    My daughter was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 13. She is now 28. We have been through some rough times with ketoacidosis, and I have known what it is like to have a doctor say, "We are doing all we can." On October 5, 2013, she will have gone one year without a hospital visit. She is struggling with some of the complications of diabetes in her digestive system and it is becoming harder for her to control her blood sugars. This poem is about my admiration for her.

    • By Mary Ann Parks
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2015 with permission of the Author.

    At birth,
    she was strong.

    It was her

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    • Stories 4
    • Shares 540
    • Favorited 19
    • Votes 306
    • Rating 4.30
    Featured Shared Story

    This is very similar to my younger sister. About 2 years ago she was really sick. I look back on pictures of her before she was diagnosed (T1D) and I can't believe I didn't notice something...

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  9. 7. Last Embers Verse II

    Watching someone you love very much slowly drift away.

    • By BGW
    • Published by Family Friend Poems September 21, 2022 with permission of the Author.

    Each day you come and see me, I wonder who you are.
    You seem so happy to sit beside me and give away your time.
    As you tell me stories, I sit there in a dreamlike state of mind.
    I don't know if I knew you, so many memories have passed me by.

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 30
    • Favorited 2
    • Votes 15
    • Rating 4.80
  10. 8. Living With Dementia

    I wrote this poem to raise awareness of people suffering from dementia. I work as a caregiver, and until starting this job, I didn't understand much about dementia or how it affected people. I would like to share my newfound knowledge with others and ensure that everyone knows that it isn't just "being forgetful" or "being difficult" and that it is just as distressing for those suffering as it is for those around them.

    • By Emma L. Buckley
    • Published by Family Friend Poems October 2021 with permission of the Author.

    My mind is not what it once was:
    wilting like a rose.
    One thing you must remember:
    this is not the life I chose.

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    • Stories 5
    • Shares 235
    • Favorited 9
    • Votes 144
    • Rating 4.60
    Featured Shared Story

    Sometimes you just NEED a break. My parents' assisted living center is short on staff, and I'm trying to be there more. Last night I fed them BOTH and then (with my horrible back with tumors...

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  11. 9. Last Embers Verse I

    This poem is about the pain of watching someone loved so very much just slowly fade away.

    • By BGW
    • Published by Family Friend Poems January 2022 with permission of the Author.

    The clarity of my mind has faded.
    Those vibrant thoughts, slowly washed away.
    Memories once so strong, are now so distant.
    Names of those I held so dear, escape me now.

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 65
    • Favorited 4
    • Votes 29
    • Rating 4.59
    Featured Shared Story

    I and (I'm guessing many hundreds of thousands of) others know exactly what you mean first-hand.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (2)

  12. 10. Losing Me...Finding Me

    In February 2010, at the age of 42, after a year of pain, confusion, and frustration, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Having always been a healthy, active, and energetic person, I struggled to adjust to a life of pain and uncertainty, and I had to come to terms with the loss of the person I had always been.
    Gradually, with God at my side, supporting or sometimes even carrying me, I began to accept the new path I was required to tread.

    I look in the mirror and the person I see
    Is someone who used to be me.
    That person was strong and healthy, rarely ill,
    And her energy was endless; she never sat still.

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 612
    • Favorited 29
    • Votes 138
    • Rating 4.58
    Featured Shared Story

    Sorry to hear that, Paul. Keep your head up, and I would love to hear more of your poetry and share some of your future journey. Sharing helps. Keep fighting

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (2)

  13. 11. Let Me Go

    This poem is about someone - a mother who is ill and just wants to be released from her children and husband to float away to another, better world. These are her thoughts...

    • By Laura J Sanders
    • Published by Family Friend Poems June 27, 2023 with permission of the Author.

    Let me go, release me like a flying kite.
    Let me go, let me fade, like day turns to night.
    Watch me sink, like the deep orange setting sun.
    For 'twas a sunset of dreams I once provided for everyone.

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 16
    • Favorited 2
    • Votes 15
    • Rating 4.53
  14. 12. In His Hands

    This was just how I felt when I found out my dad had cancer, just my thoughts and feelings.

    I heard some bad news today, something that made me scared,
    Today I found out my dad has cancer; it was something I had always feared.
    I knew many people that passed away because of this evil cell,
    Yet I know of some that beat it, and of course turned out well.

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    • Stories 8
    • Shares 223
    • Favorited 9
    • Votes 275
    • Rating 4.53
    Featured Shared Story

    I have a friend. Her 8-year-old girl is diagnosed with a brain tumor. I want a poem to comfort her and tell her everything will be fine. This will be her second operation. She is still young.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (8)

  15. 13. The Greatest Loss

    This poem is about a man watching his wife fade away due to Alzheimer's Disease

    When the time came again to visit her there,
    He'd feel that dark sense of despair.
    He could already picture her sweet, gentle face,
    Marred by that sad, empty stare.

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 156
    • Favorited 6
    • Votes 31
    • Rating 4.52
    Featured Shared Story

    My fiance and the love of my life had passed from cancer one year ago. My heart is forever scared, but I must go on with my life and raise my four-year-old daughter.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (1)

  16. 14. Past, Present, Future

    I never go to sleep at night without the fear that tomorrow may bring pain. This is life as an Epileptic.

    • By Hali
    • Published by Family Friend Poems February 2016 with permission of the Author.

    My eyes glistening with tears,
    But not yet fallen.
    I'm crying, but they're silent tears.
    I'm crying on the inside so you are unable to see

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    • Stories 5
    • Shares 751
    • Favorited 31
    • Votes 285
    • Rating 4.51
    Featured Shared Story

    My dad had epilepsy, and i remember waking up in the middle of the night to hear him crying because of his seizures, because he had accidentally hurt one of us. As a kid I was always having...

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    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (5)

  17. 15. My Father

    A boy watches his father in wallow in sickness. He is torn between his desire for his father to escape the pain, and his desire to continue to see his father live.

    • By Lizzette Cambron
    • Published by Family Friend Poems July 2006 with permission of the Author.

    My father is ill
    And fading away
    Still here for a while
    And a few more days

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 157
    • Favorited 5
    • Votes 200
    • Rating 4.51
    Featured Shared Story

    This made me cry, such a great poem. My dad has multiple sclerosis and has lived in a nursing home for 16 years. I'm only 20 so almost my whole life he has been in there. I know once he dies...

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    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (2)

  18. 16. Suffering Up Close

    My poem is not a happy one, it is sad and it is real, and at some point in life many will come face to face with some type of suffering, but the most heart breaking suffering is that of someone we love, and we can be so close yet feel so helpless. I am sure that there are others that have felt this type of pain.

    Suffering up close is so different from afar,
    it's the supreme test in life,
    to show what strengths there are.

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 613
    • Favorited 11
    • Votes 155
    • Rating 4.50
    Featured Shared Story

    Dear Melissa, I am so sorry it took me so long to reply to you. I am sorry for the loss of your father, my heart goes out to you. I wrote "Suffering Up Close" after my precious mother passed...

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  19. 17. A Forgotten Life

    My mum has been suffering from dementia for 4 years and is now in a residential home. She is 84, and up until the age of 78, she was still working and driving. She doesn't remember her husband or myself and my 2 sisters. In fact, there is no recognition in her memory of the life she had before the dementia. It seems such a cruel disease to wipe out a person's life completely that it inspired me to write this poem. I am sure it will relate to a lot of people experiencing this "loss" of a loved one.

    • By Linda Harrison
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2014 with permission of the Author.

    She resides in a home, sits in a chair,
    Nothing to bother her, make her worry or care.
    Caretakers to help her wash and dress,
    Doing all that they can not to cause her distress.

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 167
    • Favorited 13
    • Votes 148
    • Rating 4.47
    Featured Shared Story

    Hello. I can so relate to what you have said. and of course more than what you have said. My Dad got dementia when he was 83. He wouldn't accept that he needed help and I would take weeks...

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    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (1)

  20. 18. My Pain

    This poem basically tells the story. I have been to 4 different sets of doctors and now I'm going to my 5th. They don't really know what's wrong with me, but that’s okay. I know they will. That is my one hope. Thanks to all my friends and my family for being there for me. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

    • By Sami Chester
    • Published by Family Friend Poems January 2011 with permission of the Author.

    You try to understand
    But I don't want you to
    I don't think you can comprehend
    The pain that I go through.

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 333
    • Favorited 26
    • Votes 188
    • Rating 4.46
    Featured Shared Story

    Your poem touched me, after reading this you have been in my prayers. It's almost been nine months that I've been sick, in and out of hospitals my whole eighth grade year. Everyday in...

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    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (1)

  21. 19. Grandma

    As her grandmother lays sick, she pleads to her to hold on and live to get better for there are so many whom she is precious to.

    • By Jessica K. Riley
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2006 with permission of the Author.

    O Grandma, O Grandma, don't ever give up hope.
    All you family and friends are learning to cope.
    Please stay strong and never stop praying.
    You will get better soon; that's what everyone is saying.

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    • Stories 3
    • Shares 803
    • Favorited 11
    • Votes 427
    • Rating 4.43
    Featured Shared Story

    Beautiful poem. I love it. One of my favorite poems on this website.

    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (3)

  22. 20. Fading

    I've worked in care for about 20 years, mainly with people who have dementia. This poem is based on some of the things I've experienced.

    • By Danb Fernie
    • Published by Family Friend Poems March 6, 2023 with permission of the Author.

    I know that nothing ever lasts,
    and my memories, they're fading fast,
    but I have my photographs,
    and I know we used to laugh.

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 28
    • Favorited 3
    • Votes 18
    • Rating 4.33

1 - 20 of 21

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