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.

24 Poems About Sickness and Pain

1 - 20 of 24

  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.


    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 2307
    • Favorited 44
    • Votes 590
    • Rating 4.66
    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: December 2020 by Family Friend Poems with the 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
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    • Favorited 3
    • Votes 35
    • Rating 4.86
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    My friends Dad has this. She would love this poem.

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  5. 3. Living With Dementia

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

    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
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    • Favorited 21
    • Votes 239
    • Rating 4.39
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    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.

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  6. 4. 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.

    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
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    • Favorited 49
    • Votes 331
    • Rating 4.56
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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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  7. 5. 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: August 2015 by Family Friend Poems with the permission of the Author.

    At birth,
    she was strong.

    It was her

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    • Stories 4
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    • Favorited 18
    • Votes 109
    • Rating 4.14
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    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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  8. 6. Overdose

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

    • By Julie Lee
    • Published: May 2008 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 77
    • Favorited 11
    • Votes 31
    • Rating 4.07
    Featured Shared Story

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

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  9. 7. 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 575
    • Favorited 10
    • Votes 141
    • Rating 4.55
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    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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  10. 8. 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 322
    • Favorited 28
    • Votes 56
    • Rating 4.50
    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

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  11. 9. 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!

    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 286
    • Favorited 23
    • Votes 72
    • Rating 4.43
    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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  12. 10. 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: August 2006 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 644
    • Favorited 10
    • Votes 128
    • Rating 4.30
    Featured Shared Story

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

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  13. 11. 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: March 6, 2023 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 7
    • Favorited 1
    • Votes 15
    • Rating 4.07
  14. 12. After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes

    A poem about emotional pain and grief, the body and minds reactions to terrible news. "After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes" is a poem by Emily Dickinson about coping with intense emotional pain. The poet describes their numbed emotional state following a traumatic event. Dickinson uses metaphors and imagery to paint a vivid picture of the speaker's emotional detachment. The use of rhyme and a tight meter gives the poem a musical quality, emphasizing the speaker's numbness. It can be interpreted as Dickinson's own coping mechanism after experiencing a loss, but also applies to the reader's personal experiences and emotional numbness.

    After great pain a formal feeling comes--
    The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
    The stiff Heart questions--was it He that bore?
    And yesterday--or centuries before?

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 493
    • Favorited 12
    • Votes 107
    • Rating 3.72
  15. 13. Last Embers Verse II

    Watching someone you love very much slowly drift away.

    • By BGW
    • Published: September 21, 2022 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 13
    • Favorited 0
    • Votes 14
    • Rating 4.79
  16. 14. 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 191
    • Favorited 8
    • Votes 56
    • Rating 4.63
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    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.

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  17. 15. 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: October 27, 2021 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 194
    • Favorited 8
    • Votes 142
    • Rating 4.59
    • Poem of the Week
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    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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  18. 16. Last Embers Verse I

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

    • By BGW
    • Published: January 5, 2022 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 49
    • Favorited 2
    • Votes 27
    • Rating 4.56
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    I and (I'm guessing many hundreds of thousands of) others know exactly what you mean first-hand.

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  19. 17. 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: February 2016 by Family Friend Poems with the 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 613
    • Favorited 26
    • Votes 77
    • Rating 4.53
    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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  20. 18. 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.

    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 151
    • Favorited 12
    • Votes 27
    • Rating 4.52
    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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  21. 19. 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 147
    • Favorited 5
    • Votes 30
    • Rating 4.50
    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.

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  22. 20. Grandpa, I Love You

    We don't want to let go of our loved ones even when it's time.

    • By Keali B. Wilbur
    • Published: July 2006 by Family Friend Poems with the permission of the Author.

    Grandpa, I love you and I always will.
    It makes me so sad to see you so sick.
    I wonder why you were God's pick?
    Maybe because you were such a good man

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    • Stories 4
    • Shares 134
    • Favorited 8
    • Votes 37
    • Rating 4.49
    Featured Shared Story

    My grandad is currently in hospital with a worsening case of cancer! it isn't certain he is going to die but he is not it a good place at all! We live far away and I don't see him often at...

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    Touched by the poem? Share your story! (4)

1 - 20 of 24

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