They said it’s cancer but I didn’t hear,
I looked at the man, my love sat near,
His face was blank his body numb,
Why did he ignore it, why be so dumb.

A long conversation about the treatment,
A process of medicine to be quite frequent,
He still doesn’t talk about the disease,
But if he had sooner this might be an ease.

Gruelling appointments with lots of effects,
Leaving it late has made it complex,
The man I knew looks fragile and weak,
He thinks his future looks ruined and bleak.

Finally he’s in the clear,
But the treatments left him with so much fear,
He can’t make love or even wee,
He’s no longer the person he used to be.

The side effects have ruined this man,
He never thought this was part of the plan,
They have explained the side effects,
But he didn’t understand these defects.

Men don’t talk about these things,
Or the horrible effects that treatment brings,
He’s in the clear but these issues will prolong,
Many won’t be fixed and will be lifelong.

Now I look at the man sat near,
Everything’s gone, the love, the cheer,
He says he wishes he had died from the cancer,
Why I ask- “the treatment” was his answer.

One thing I learned from all of this,
cancers the start, the rest we dismiss, cancer didn’t kill him, the treatment did,
Cause the man I loved has died and hid,
All that’s left within the shell,
Is a man of anger who’s been through hell.

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