Walking to the Parkinson’s Beat

Drunk, Staggering – unsteady on my feet,
It’s a man walking to the sound of the Parkinson’s beat.
Stared at – laughed at and now really comes rub,
If I go out at night – the bouncers follow me around the pub!

And though I laugh about it and try to have a joke,
Eventually this attention would affect the most insensitive of folk.
And sometimes you hear the voices of people talking quietly out loud,
Pointed comments and derision that really shouldn’t be allowed.

And why some people do it I still can’t work out fully,
But some of their actions are akin to those of a school-yard bully;
And one thing I know for sure about this Parkinson’s curse,
As a degenerative illness my walking can only get worse.

…and so I would ask you, all of my relatives and friends,
To help in my aim to see that this ignorance and mockery ends.
Because hidden within, but becoming increasingly self-aware,
Is me – the person you’ve always known – who will always be there…
Hywel GRIFFITHS QPM