"The
Cancerboy Diaries: Entry the 6th"
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
Dec. 22, 2006 7:06 am pst
This was
supposed to be the positive entry,
Unwritten till today,
but full of hope after the second
round of chemotherapy
ended the Cancer's stroll
through your stomach area,
lodging in your lymph nodes,
and causing so many problems.
The therapy had finally facilitated
a full recovery,
and all traces of the disease
had fled your body.
Yes, this was
supposed to be the positive entry,
but I failed to write it.
We had witnessed the
shearing of your head
when the medicine
caused clumps of your hair
to disappear
almost overnight.
We had witnessed
the nausea and the sickness
as the medicine wound it's way
through your insides
supposedly eradicating the
Cancer's liesurely destructive walk.
We had finally witnessed joy
when the second round of treatments
ended, and the doctors
gave you a fleeting ray of hope
in the distance.
Months passed,
and the sixth entry of the Diary
remained unwritten.
Knowing that the
last chapter had hopefully been written,
the Diary stayed shut,
and the pages,
devoid of words of elation,
stated blank and beackoning.
Just as Christmas shines in
the near distance,
the latest doctor's visit
bore no good tidings at all,
and now I pull out the Diary again,
and the glorious respite from
pain and disease will have to
be postponed,
as your prognosis came back positive,
and the Creative Cancer causes
problems once again,
resuming his liesurely stroll
through your already
wartorn shell of humanity.
I pen these words with hesitancy
Hope again outlasting reality
as we brace for Round Three
of the treatments.
What will the outcome
be this time
on the Rollercoaster of Uncertainty
?
Your head of hair had finally re-emerged
and now it is doubtless that
this forest of follicles will not be felled
by the medicine again.
Holiday questions
and uncertain futures
gaze again at your existence
and we will
pray again
that Strike Three
does not put you
out of the ballgame for good.
Poetry
2006
