Doing It the Hard Way

My battle with cancer in brief.

Doing It the Hard Way

A single scar; not enough to teach me of life,
so a second was added, a twin to the right.
My spirit tripped on fear of untimely death;
afraid to breathe, I fainted from holding my breath.

Two cancers clawed my chest with tongues of fire;
blood counts off the charts, higher and higher.
I watched as chemo took my hair, my joy, my strength,
and dared not plan ahead for life of any length.

My soul fell into the depths of a hopeless pool;
I cried out, "Be merciful to me, a fool!"
I dared not beg the gods for final peace,
for the only pathway there was death's release.

To act as succor for my constant, gnawing pain
only little white pills could oblivion gain;
but to trade one hell for another I would not conform,
so I merely set sails to endure it...

and rode out the storm.

Reviews

[Holly Mason]

this is a very good piece of writing
rode out the storm- I will cherish that statement...
do not beg for final peace-
nice meeting you
thank you for riding out the storm and for sharing

[barbinar]

Thank you Holly.
I think I am going to enjoy being here among friends. :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh i really like this...you rode out the storm....a poem of grit and survival...not giving in...or as dylan thomas put it..."not going gently into that good night"

really good stuff here...

jacob

[barbinar]

Thanks jacob.
Many had it a lot worse than I did and gave me much needed inspiration during a very rough time.