Unexpected Separation
Having been home, from New York, one day shy of a week,
You and I, Linda, soul mate in my life, of my life, for my life,
Are facing an unexpected separation,
This time a parting whose sorrow is not sweet:
Your leaving for Hollywood, Florida, to console sister Marlene,
Whose husband, Jim, not appreciably older than we are,
Diagnosed with breast cancer, will soon undergo surgery.
In this season of our lives, when illness's possibilities increase,
All we can do is accept destiny's vicissitudes
Or ignore their existence, pretend we're inviolable,
Until the inevitable buries our denial, without a prayer, elegy.
Today, as you prepare to fly away,
We detect, in each other's anxiety, love's revitalizing energy,
Which, for a while, anyway, will keep us immortal.
l
01/31/11 - (1)
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