TELL ME WHY IT’S CALLED “PARKINSON’S DISEASE?” POEM

TELL  ME WHY

 IT’S CALLED “PARKINSON’S DISEASE?”

A Poem

by David Verdery

Back in 1817, a doctor in London,

Whose name was James Parkinson,

Was speaking at a medical convention.

 his mission was to bring attention

To his study on “shaking palsy’

And to the findings, they now would all see.

His reputation was growing in the community,

And he urged them all to agree in unity

That they’d work together to find

The cause of this new attack on the mind.

Parkinson then began to tell them  

About some relevant signs that, for him, 

Showed some non-motor symptoms just as bad,

Beginning with difficulty to walk.

And the ability to clearly talk.

 the nightmares in color could make one mad.

The handwriting starting to shrink

And always choking on a drink.

The face becomes a blank expression

Along with anxiety and deep depression.

The senses of taste and smell have left

 the feeling of being lost and bereft.

The autonomic nervous system relies 

On healthy brain cells to survive.

But this malady of dying cells

Is giving people anxiety and tells

Me that its aggression is unstoppable

And my search for a cure, impossible. 

Dr. Parkinson said that, down the road,

Science would surely find an episode  

Of this disease, he’d taken credit for

And develop a cure that would forevermore

End this plague on the human condition.

Parkinson’s would finally fade out of vision.

- Amen –