There is something wonderful in poetry that goes beyond just the meaning of the words. Constructed with artful devices like rhyme, wordplay, repetition, and creative placement of punctuation, poetry taps into our innate response to rhythm and sound. As such, it’s no surprise that people facing cancer look for cancer fighting poems to boost their confidence and hopefulness.
Poetry is similar to music and is part of our history, found in the hymns and chants that define cultural traditions. And like music, it can inspire the imagination and serve as inspiration for a reflective, contemplative, and daydreaming brain.
Studies have shown that poetry can stimulate the same parts of our brains that respond to meditation or a beloved piece of music. So, whether you read a poem aloud or read it to yourself in a private moment, poetry can stir up strong emotions and deepen cognitive response more than other forms of writing.
How Fighting Cancer Poems Can Inspire Us
For people with cancer, a poem can provide, inspiration, a sense of connection, or simply a welcome opportunity to refocus the mind away from anxiety. Here are 10 of our favorite “fighting cancer” poems to fuel confidence:
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Beloved American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry. Furthermore, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and more than 50 honorary degrees.
Why we love this fighting cancer poem: This poem is about hope and determination in the face of adversity. It is a celebration of the human spirit and has a playful empowering attitude.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
Known as “The Lumberman’s Poet”, Douglas Malloch lived in Michigan where he grew up amongst logging camps and lumberyards.
Why we love this fighting cancer poem: Inspired by Malloch’s life amongst trees, this poem shows that people, like trees, grow and reach their true potential by experiencing life’s challenges.
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
Sara Teasdale’s poetry centered on a woman’s changing perspectives on beauty, love, and life. Moreover, she won the first Columbia Poetry Prize in 1918, a prize that would later be renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Why we love this poem: This poem is about seeing the beauty in life and finding a balance between hard moments and rewarding ones.
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit’s still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
4. “Desiderata-Words for Life” by Max Ehrmann
In his most famous poem, Desiderata, early 20th-century American poet and philosopher Max Ehrmann encourages us to be loving and compassionate to ourselves.
Why we love this poem: This poem is a gentle affirmation of everyone’s special place of belonging in the world. It has encouragement, advice — and most of all — compassion for the human condition.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
5. “It Couldn’t Be Done” by Edgar Guest
Edgar was called the poet of the people and was well known to audiences through his syndicated newspaper columns, radio, and TV shows about American life. In addition, he published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was thought to have written over 11,000 poems.
Why we love this poem: The theme of courage in the face of overwhelming odds is a timeless affirmation for anyone going through tough times.
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Emily Dickinson published only eight poems in her lifetime. Today her nearly 2,000 succinct, profound meditations on life and death, nature, love, and art make her one of the most original and important American poets.
Why we love this poem: This piece focuses on what hope truly means. It is the one thing that can be constant throughout any hardship, and it asks nothing in return
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
The great Persian poet teacher and mystic from the 13th century remains the best-selling poet in the United States. His poems are often excerpted as inspirational quotes which address life’s “big questions”.
Why we love this poem: Rumi points out the paradox and peace of knowing you are both an individual and part of the collective. And that darkness and light both have a place inside the human experience.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent,
As a guide from beyond.
British poet and newspaper editor William Ernest Henley was a champion for other 19th Century artists like Auguste Rodin and Rudyard Kipling.
Why we love this poem: This poem about strength consistently ranks as one of the most inspirational poems of all time.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
9. “Character of the Happy Warrior” by William Wordsworth.
William Wordsworth was an English poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature.
Why we love this poem: This poem is a reminder of who you can become through generosity, tenderness, diligent learning, self-knowledge, faithfulness, humility and honor. It connects everyone to the “happy warrior” spirit.
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be?
—It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:
Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright;
Who, with a natural instinct to discern
What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,
But makes his moral being his prime care;
Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
Turns his necessity to glorious gain;
In face of these doth exercise a power
Which is our human nature’s highest dower:
Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
Of their bad influence, and their good receives:
By objects, which might force the soul to abate
Her feeling, rendered more compassionate;
Is placable—because occasions rise
So often that demand such sacrifice;
More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
—’Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law as on the best of friends;
Whence, in a state where men are tempted still
To evil for a guard against worse ill,
And what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,
He labours good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows:
—Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means; and there will stand
On honourable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire;
Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;
And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;
Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all:
Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,
A constant influence, a peculiar grace;
But who, if he be called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human kind,
Is happy as a Lover; and attired
With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;
Or if an unexpected call succeed,
Come when it will, is equal to the need:
—He who, though thus endued as with a sense
And faculty for storm and turbulence,
Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans
To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
Sweet images! which, wheresoe’er he be,
Are at his heart; and such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve;
More brave for this, that he hath much to love:—
‘Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,
Or left unthought-of in obscurity,—
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not—
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won:
Whom neither shape or danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray;
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast:
Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth
For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name—
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:
This is the happy Warrior; this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be.
Mary Oliver won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work connects human beings to the wonder of nature and our place in it.
Why we love this poem: The image of geese in flight connects us to the timelessness of nature and uses a vivid recognizable description of birds to lift the spirit.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Selecting the Right Cancer Fighting Poems
Poetry is meant to be shared, read in quiet contemplation, spoken aloud, and revisited often. If you are caring for someone with cancer you might want to include a poem in a letter to lift their spirits or gift them with other inspiring reads and audio. Sometimes inspirational quotes or healing words can be lifted from within the body of a poem.
Reading poetry connects us to our essential humanity, and reminds us that we are not alone in the world. To get more uplifting ideas, resources, and the gift of community, sign up to Mend Together and explore our many online tools and suggestions for people living with cancer.
“When someone suggested this topic for this article, I thought it would be the corniest thing ever; but I got convinced that this could be helpful to people. Poems are not usually my thing. I like non-fiction, some fiction, and especially sci-fi. I love reading about the future. I wasn’t actually able to read or watch TV during a lot of my cancer, so I just laid and stared at my ceiling. That is why we sell the bird feeder on the site, so you can watch the birds. But I was surprised that our writer was able to find such beautiful poems that were meaningful and helpful, and I wish I had thought of reading these.” – Lisa Lefebvre, Mend Together Founder/2x cancer “endure-er”
Mend Together’s free resources can help guide you and your loved ones during and after a cancer diagnosis. Whether you find comfort in sharing updates through the Community Journal, want to build a Cash & Donation Registry with helpful items after surgery, or you want to organize practical help using our Volunteer Calendar, these tools help you and your loved ones navigate the challenges that lie ahead. Start your free account today.
Kate Rigg is a cancer advocate and graduate from the Juilliard School in New York with an honors degree in creative writing from the University of Melbourne.
Information provided here is not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your healthcare team for advice tailored to your personal diagnosis and treatment.
