2· ill ease and scattered patters — Summary

Words are powerful things, they let us down, as fast as they bring us up. Such bullets, hurt when they hit, but are worse off when aimed by someone you love. Take a deep breath now, hold back that flinch, don't let it whisper - pain. The barrel is drawing in close, what a life you've lived, and what a "pity" it'll end. You almost give up, you're okay with getting hurt, if it's for the others. Eyes are closed. Numb. That's all you feel. But what if, just what if, they did not forget you, rather they did not see the signs. Humans should be defined as selfish, because that's what we are, it doesn't mean you need to stop breathing. In order to get into your mind, white coats prod, poke and press, trying to diagnose the undiagnosable. I mean why should it be an illness? When that's how you feel? They don't know better, but we'll let them pretend they do. To try recognise what we truly need; Some love. It seems so easy, But like that recipe with that one missing ingredient, it just won't fit right.

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The speaker describes the pain of being hurt by words, especially from someone you love, and compares that hurt to being shot. The poem moves through a dark moment: the speaker braces for the blow, seems ready to give up, and goes numb. Then a small hope appears. Maybe the people close to them didn't forget them, but simply failed to notice the signs. The line about humans being selfish isn't an accusation so much as a reminder that this is no reason to stop living.

The speaker is also frustrated with doctors, the "white coats" who poke and prod at a feeling that may not be an illness at all. They don't really know better, but the speaker lets them pretend. What's needed is simple: some love. The mood is tired, raw and quietly sad, and the final image of a recipe missing one ingredient leaves it unresolved, as if the answer is close but still out of reach.

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