Hello Folks,
My good friend Jo recently lost her long battle with Cancer and died a week ago. She was a wonderful woman. Funny, intelligent, beautiful and strong.
Her husband Steve has kindly given me permission to reproduce one of her poems which captures the reality of living with Cancer.
I hope you will read and enjoy Remission.
REMISSION
1.
The panther prowls the gloom of my nightmare.
Stealthy with menace, it skulks on huge paws.
I hold on tight to a rickety chair
2.
I stand stock-still as it sniffs at the air
And idly yawns, opening steel-trap jaws.
The panther prowls the gloom of my nightmare.
3.
I will it not to detect my despair
At the glint of teeth, its talon-sharp claws.
I hold on tight to the rickety chair.
4.
It lurks in the shadows, I know it’s there.
Rigid with fear, sweat runs from my pores.
The panther prowls the gloom of my nightmare
5.
And casually stretches. I shrink, too aware
Of its power slinking close on all-fours.
I hold on tight to the rickety chair
6.
With razor-wire claws and its teeth sharply bare,
It doesn’t see me, obeys its own laws.
The panther prowls the gloom of my nightmare.
I loosen my grip on the impotent chair.