Sharing an orange

I parted the orange

And took a peg

And found myself telling you

As citrus touched my tongue

That I did not want to lose

My head again

How Artane and Seroquel

Subsidised by the National Health Fund

Couldn’t keep down the

Pain of losing two years of writing

Not only my hobby

But my pain, my joy and my truth

The one thing that gave me

An identity

Than one person

Parted in two

And I passed the orange round

And you took a peg

And as the sweeter portions

Dripped down your face

You shared that you had

A story similar to mine

You had visited all the

Similar places

That tried to bind down

Our hands and feet

And sometimes you

Were split

Into more than

Twos or Three

But you sure missed the

Comfort of a Mother

Whose pink ribbon

Had fallen on a grave

That fell from a

Place there used to be

One good breast

And the orange passed

The round again

And Nurse now in

Cheerful colours

You listened to our story

And decided to tell us

About your baby

And you tasted a

Bitter part of the orange

And showed us a picture

Of a baby in a tiny casket

As we all shared

An orange

And wept

All connected by rinds

That had tasted the bitterness

Of loss

And as the orange changed

The round again

We finally finished it

Sharing our loss, pain

And getting even temporary

Comfort

From an orange

Which on first bite, had

Foretold the sourness

Of our lives.

– Lisa Gaye Taylor