I keep reaching for you when it hurts.

It isn't right, I'm taking you by the handful because you want to help

Even though you're Aspirin and I need Penicillin you aren't

The right kind of thing for the kind of hurt I am

Maybe even Morphine when I need something else or

At the very least Vitamin C, good but not the thing when what I have is a broken bone.

I have to remind myself to love what you are

Not take you for a panacaea when what you are is more than a palliative but

In terms of the hurt a palliative is all you can be

Even though sometimes hospice is better than

Chasing down an unpromised cure, that's an ending

I should read cold-eyed over the symptoms I wrote down