Hope Grows Faster
Lillibit Ray
by Lillibit Ray
A surprise visitor lets itself in,
swift and brazen,
deep and spreading,
infiltrating a once healthy body,
on an unruly journey throughout.
Standard exams turn to focused tests,
discovering multiple abnormalities
brewing into mobs of diseased cells.
Cancer diagnosis received
and righteously rejected.
Treatments of chemo and radiation,
poisoning the body
to become healthy again,
reverse reasoning used to stay alive.
Pills made to manage hormonal processes
and fight marauding intruders
by placing sanctions on spreading masses,
cutting off essential materials to grow.
A whole life is changed
as survival taken for granted is threatened.
Treatment takes precedent,
Accompanied by hope to light the way,
And amazing connections are made
when loved ones, old and new, come closer,
sharing warmth and compassion
as the fight for life carries on.
Strength is strengthened.
Energy is energized.
Support is the backbone of recovery,
and an occupied body soaks up its power.
Lillibit Ray was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in August 2022. After two surgeries and radiation treatments, she is now on hormone therapy. She has had poetry published in Dark Winter Literary Magazine, in the Dark Poet’s Club e-zine, and on the Surviving Breast Cancer blog and newsletter. She writes on her own, for herself sometimes.
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