Chemo
by Dr. Lloyd Jacobs
Most of what she said flew by me
but her summary seared. She held
my hand as she spoke. “It comes to this:
another round of chemo or hospice care”.
For a minute I thought my bowels
had moved in a dream. Was it imagination
or memory brought the taste of chemo
to my throat? But “hospice” means dying.
My recollections flicker, swirl. Meaningless
bits of the past are strewn as rocks heaved
from frozen ground into no pattern. Events
of long ago compete for my attention,
to live at all seems promethean rebellion.
Oh, God, I have not lived enough!
Dr. Lloyd Jacobs is President Emeritus of the University of Toledo, he has published 3 collections of poetry, previously he was a professor of vascular surgery at the University of Michigan.
