The Big C

I sat so nervously to listen to the learned doctor speak
A scruffy man, his suit all crumpled, not at all crisp or neat
And then it came,
The word formed on lips formed clumsily.

No! He couldn't! He surely isn't talking to me!?

But I looked behind,
I looked within the sterile room and I looked out.

I went numb,
I just froze,
My mind, I just could not compose
As the word I dreaded most resounded in my head
Like a trumpeters last post.

"You have CANCER Mr D"

Who Me!?
It always happens to others not me!
There must be some mistake?
But there I was,
Left reeling in its wake

What does it mean?
How long have I got?
Is there some treatment for pity sake tell me Doc!

I thought at first, THAT was the worst day of my life
But it didn't come near to when I told the wife

I could see that stiff upper lip crumble and distort
We just held each other so, so tight
And cried and cried about the thought beyond all thoughts.

When your given your last rights and your days are numbered
Your life becomes so clear and so unencumbered

All the things that used to bring you down,
Just don't matter anymore They're not even worth a frown

Suddenly life becomes the most precious of all gifts
You mend all the petty arguments
And all the family rifts

You take each minute , every hour
You marvel at each raindrop and the scent of every flower

And even now I am close to taking my last breath
The life I have lived is now so very clear in death

Please when I finally leave you
Don't you waste one tear
Don't let a cloud on you descend
Just live each day as if your last
Until the very end!