Concussion- A poem.

In honor of my daughter who sustained a major concussion in a car accident in October and is suffering to date from post-concussive syndrome. In her junior year in high school, she has missed months of school and this injury will now alter her plans for post high school studies. And for  a sweet young 9 year old boy in my third grade class who also is suffering from massive headaches that keep him out of school on and off. 
 Both of these young people appear to be "normal" and thus they are treated as though nothing is wrong with them. Their flightiness, forgetfulness, lack of concentration and focus continue to add stress to their daily lives. I know there are thousands of others out "there" with the same issues. To you I offer my utmost respect and compassion.

Concussion

Pain

Darkness

Incoherence, fatigue

Jolts of agony

Throbbing nausea

Swallow me into a black hole of

Utter wretchedness.

Endless nights of wakefulness

Interspersed with exhaustion

Days of  drowsiness

weeks of dreary fog

creep into months of lethargy.

Smiles mask sluggish confusion

Teachers question

my memory

Administrators doubt

my absences.

I wonder

will my brain

ever

feel

normal

again?