Recently, I lost a good friend. Rose was my best friend in high school, and my maid of honor at my first wedding.
She was a good person, honest, kind, and wise. We lost Rose to pancreatic cancer that she discovered she had on her 60th birthday.
Losing a peer at any age is difficult. But, one always looks at that person’s time line, and compares it to their own. You reflect, “She was too young, she was so full of life”. We realize that life is unfair; we are supposed to accept this, and move on.
Here is a poem that I wrote about cancer in my second book, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader.
May your day be peaceful and filled with love.
Joan
For Rose and her family, may she rest in peace.
Was the cause environmental,
Or was it family genetics?
How did this happen?
Perhaps, it was just karma
Bringing me this dark, unwanted gift
This cancer
The alien DNA
Hidden in the structure
Of the genome
Its time bomb releasing
Microscopic invaders burrowing
Into tissue, mytissue
Facing myself in the mirror,
Today, chopping long dark hair
Shorter, and shorter still
Wondering who is this stranger
Who stares back
Stone-faced and resolute?
I begin this deeply personal
Uphill battle, or is it downhill?
Warrior stance—I am ready
“Let’s do this!” to my husband
We travel silently to chemo
Unspoken words blowing through
Our minds like autumn leaves
He holds my hand as we begin
IV dripping, we watch morning TV
Oblivious to the screen, thoughts
Still flowing, overflowing, synchronized
With the IV releasing the drug/poison
I will it to find the interloper
“Seek out the alien intruder, now!”
Many weeks have passed, now
Time has slowed to a turtle’s pace
I have sat in that recliner
Many hours, with needle piercing my flesh,
Chemo flowing, a soft cap covering the baby fuzz
Where my hair used to be
I turn my mind inward, pray and give thanks
Liquid ninja’s course through my veins
“Finish it”, I pray, “amen”.
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Joan Ellen Gage 