Breast Cancer

A dedication to my friends, Mary Phillips, Susan Caruso, Joy Nowlen, who lost their battle with breast cancer.  Honoring all this month “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

I watched a friend take her last breath today.

We prayed, ‘Hail Mary’ and the “Our Father’

Then she passed…

I miss her terribly.

Unfair, at least to my understanding now.

Unfair to me.

She was fried chicken,

Hometown laughter,

Short streets.

She was “riding around”,

Coca cola,

Music on the radio.

We talked of ‘new loves’,

With new hopes,

As we shared our dreams.

She was simpler times,

Long phone calls,

Sharing all…

She was late night rescue,

Stranded from dates

Gone bad.

She was laughter at oddity

Of pregnant bodies

And invisible feet…

She was death,

The painful recognition of

The ugliness of disease…

She was the beauty

Of the spirit, shinning past

All the let-downs of cancer…

She was a lifetime friend

You never ask for,

Only recognize a lifetime late…

As I sit by her bed,

Watching her breath,

And my tears are for me.

Copyrighted:   2016 CMM

All Soul’s Day

Lyrics written by:  Christine McNeill-Matteson

Music composed by:  Daniel Meyer

Vocalist:  Lynn Jenkins

Instrumentalist:  Eddie Truman

(This song was written in memory of a friend of mine who passed with breast cancer.  She was only 28 years old with 3 beautiful young children.)