He felt a backache in springtime
Moving bricks to build a garden wall
For me.
Persistent. Not backrubs
Nor Ben-Gay nor bed.
X-rays, blood tests, CT scan,
As big as a grapefruit.
New scars, new words:
5-FU, Leucovorin.
Deadly music:
Camptosar, Oxaliplatin.
Devil child’s poem:
Thoracentesis, Pleuradesis
Hepatic metastasis.
Coffee in sunlight, each sip
A gift. One year.
Green grass growing in my
New garden.
Permission to reprint granted to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc., and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc., by copyright author/owner.
2018
