A Missed Call From Cancer Poem by Guruguhan Iyer

There’s a lump in his throat,
But he isn’t scared.
Not one bit.

“That’s the end of the road, my friend.
You can’t live no more.”
A voice spoke, coldly,
Thundering the ground beneath his feet.

“Soon you’ll be dead
You’ll wander around the earth
You’ll be hungry, you’ll be thirsty.
But you’ll get nothing
Neither a grain of meat, nor a drop of blood.”
The devilish voice broke into a fit of squeamish laughter.

There’s a lump in his throat
But he isn’t scared.
Not one bit.

“You’ll be my slave for eternity
You will bring the dead to me every single day.
See the light of the sun and moon as much as you can, my slave.
For once you’re dead, there’ll be just darkness.”

There’s a lump in his throat,
But he isn’t scared.
Not one bit.

The devilish voice kept him awake all night
He listened to every word the monster spoke
He kept his eyes open
He didn’t let his heart cross the 72 beats per minute mark.

The next morning,
He greeted the birds and the plants, with a warm smile.
He looked around him
There was a spark in his eyes.

Soon, the lump disappeared.
So did the monster and his thunderous roar.
And the sun and the moon
Kept shining
Brighter and brighter.
Every single day.
Every single night.