She was like a breath of fresh air

Outspoken and straight as a die,

Her honesty was almost painful

Often it would make you cry

No hint of vagueness or deceit

Double meanings gone for good

Weasel words shown the door

With her I knew where I stood

Prevarications were not for her

She would let on the reason why

She never beat about the bush

She came true fro...

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She volunteered at the hospice,

They'd seen off her old man fine

Daytimes she was a lollipop lady

Keeping kids safe with her sign

Then she took ill, her sight went

Gradually the kids put in peril,

A brain tumour behind her eyes

Still the kids relied on old Beryl

Sadly she gave up the hospice

Painkillers made her too weary

The kids noticed she was tired

Ge...

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Poetry about Real People - The power of poetry in hospice care 

There is a tension between the advance of medical science, that pursues its ability to fix and treat, and an acceptance of the natural order of death and how that may be experienced. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and health researcher, has reignited this debate with his book 'Being Mortal' (and also presented the 2014 Reith Lectures on B...

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