I renewed my library card
When the diagnosis was confirmed
Urgently, I needed books to read
Become lost in words
Seek an elusive truth
Literature’s other world
With Shakespeare, I began
Resolved to peruse
All his collected works
The sonnets, included,
A Midsummer’s Night Dream –
Mirth, magic and enchantment
Desired these above all else
I muddled through
Elizabethan vernacular
Sharpening my mind to focus
Perhaps, something more
Modern next time – Hemmingway, Faulkner
In Art History, my interest is enthused
I read volumes of Philosophy as well
Spiritual treatises by the Great Masters,
Intellectuals and Avatars,
The recurring theme:
All there is – here and now
What would I like to do?
The outcome is unknown
“The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”
Avows all life is suffering
Buddhism’s first noble truth
Does that explain?
Rationalize misfortune
Longevity truncated
What should I do?
Go on a sleigh ride
Write my memoirs
Read a book
I recite poetry aloud
The sound of verse eases feeling alone
Bereft like a tattered kite
Ripped from the sky
By a fierce, sudden gust
A child clutching an empty string
Will I be granted
Enough time
To read all that I wish
If I keep reading books
Will I live?