'C' Poem by John Tansey

They said, 'I have Cancer'.

Just then, a hundred and one birds,
circled around, back upon me,
like a mass beaching of whales;
each one was a future.

And I said, 'What does this mean? '
'that my body, no longer in love
with me, has turned against itself? '

Sitting at the foot of the bed.
a room where you first learned
of the dark.
Whereby, being a child, afraid,
my mother said their was nothing to fear
and that I would always be safe.

'Where are you now mother? '
'Can I still be a child at this age? '
'Can I let go of all this anger? '
'And not resent those who continue living? '

'And as the future repeats the past, '
'Can some memory of me remain in you? '
'Can I smile back at a child who smiles at me? '

'Can I let go of my life before it is taken away from me? '
'And walk willingly unto my fate'
'Like a child to the open arms arms of his father'

'Mother, there still is a monster under the bed,
But I know, now, that he just wants to play!

John Thomas Tansey