I  struggle every day to remain well,

It's an obstacle course, of sorts,

Yesterday, I was ko'd, knocked out,

But before the count of 10 I was 

Up again, fighting to recover my balance, my poise.

On my toes

I rose to the challenge.

Today,  I Am fasting, the best detox I know,

Hoping I will recover, in time 

To watch a film, have a meal,

Get up from my bed. Be well.

It's been like this since cancer struck.

Illness has liberated me from any vestiges of arrogance or pomposity

When I can walk, I look at people's

Faces and wonder what crosses

They themselves must carry.

The secret is to see myself as lucky

My family, poetry, music and study

All insulate me from the demons of despair

But, on wild nights or windy, I wonder

Where we'd be without this fall into mortality:

A pre-Lapsarian paradise where those we love will never die

As nightingales will, forever, sing

In their full-throated ease beneath the bluest

Of blue skies. Hello. Goodbye.