Wow, this weeks prompt from Writers Island really made me think considering the situation I now find myself in. I wrote the following poem after I had the original melanoma (which has resurfaced). At the time I agonised over the inclusion of the last line as I was feeling so positive and I didn’t want to diminish that, but it seemed a bit scary. Anyway the writer in me won out and I left it in. So here it is…
 
My Constant Journey

The scar on my shoulder

I wear like medal

a constant reminder

of the battle fought

the ‘Keeper of Time’

has allowed me to cheat

the cancer in inside

has been taken away

A new chance I have

but life seems so short

I want no regrets

when the Keeper comes

I want to choose

for peace and worth

for others who need

not for stressful waste

Each day provides

a convas of sorts

to paint and explore

to mark as I choose

The canvas renews

each new sun rise

a picture by day

a restoring by night

My soul has found peace

I have found purpose

for today and beyond

there is great expectation

tomorrow may have

darker days to come

but the journey’s not complete

’til the Keeper calls.

© Katherine Smail 1999

Just a note…I almost couldn’t write it here as it’s awfully close to home but somehow it felt like it was meant to be.

This poem is so significant to me. It just seems to be what I need to hear when I’m feeling a bit flat. It is written beautifully by Mary Oliver.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.