Leaf buds

I see a light fuzz of hair on your head

like the softness of just opening leaf buds in spring.

The chemo is over,and you wait relieved and letting that

take you for a while before you start to face the next stage.

Will your Spring turn to a warm enchanting Summer

or has the cancer,as they say ,”spread.”

Just for now,you’re in that lull

so in three weeks time you will not be

arriving for another session of drugs

and days of sickness.

I see the light fuzz which reminds me

of how the cat’s fur grew back after her surgery

and she,being unable to reflect or question,

leaped from the fence top onto next door’s kitchen roof;

no thought in her mind of stitches breaking.

How beautifully the patterned fur returned

and the vulnerable skin was covered again.

Oh,to look into those eyes and see you dream

about mice that live behind the shed

and how you sat watching for hours

and how you were alive till the very last moment.

Then , all of a sudden,you were gone.

Pray it will not be so for the fragile,loving human

now waiting and living,hoping for what you took for granted…

a “normal” life span Or maybe just three quarters of one

would be satisfactory;would be a beneficence

such as trees feel when the sap turns and begins to flow back.

bringing life out of the darkness of earth and soil.

And another Summer comes at the right time

and we find it, shall we say, satisfactory?