Cancer crept
surreptitiously
into you.
An uninvited guest
lodging within
like tainted sin.
All that was
is dislodged now,
pushed to a different plain,
sickness and pain.
It happened to others,
you assumed,
now you were
of that in crowd,
the hopeful,
often the doomed.
The doctor attended;
tests performed;
blood tests taken;
treatment suggested,
light perhaps,
at the end of the tunnel,
or not as the case may be;
all too soon to say
as you waste away.
Cancer, the word,
a conversation killer;
who knows what to say
without sounding trite,
so say nothing,
pass it by
in a silent pause,
not sure of the reason
or where or cause.
Life changer,
a disturbing mental
car crash,
the past
a foreign country,
the future
an unknown script,
you see and hear
each second
in your body clock tick,
and those gone
and ticked.