Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Taking Your Leave (Poem)

Taking Your Leave

      Words have a longevity I do not.
         ~ Paul Kalanithi

Your scans map enough
to tell you you will not
walk the distance
from earth to sun.

We want to ask how
long you've got, as if
any answer but this
minute matters.

Already you've looked
down your path to
see no end we know
is near, circling

what yet remains.

© 2016 Maureen E. Doallas

The late Paul Kalanithi is the author of When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, January 2016). A neurosurgeon, he died of cancer in March 2015, aged 37. Several of his essays are at his Website.

No comments: