TO BE OR NOT TO BE, July 1998

There comes a time in one’s affairs
When one must say stop!
Enough! We came joyfully,
Chemotherapy finished and just
A tablet to take. Good prognosis.
Radiotherapy not indicated.
But then, the day after, a phone call –
That therapy could and should be done.
See a specialist in it – talk to him.
But why, when I have said I will NOT
Have radiotherapy. And so again
The question, to be or not to be.
We decide at least to talk to the man
From courtesy, but it disturbs me.
How long should one go on defying death,
A certainty no one can deny.
I do not think I mind that call
To approach my maker. But yet
I fear that further intrusion in
My tired and listless body.
So why did I make that time to go
And see the man and maybe give
In to pressures – NO I will not.
NOW I will let my cancer go its way.
A chance I have, good enough for me,
To be with family and friends yet awhile.

For more information on these poems, contact edmund@balnaves.org