because I don’t like a world in which cancer is part

I speak from the heart

I’ve had too many beloveds who have been taken away

who I wanted to stay, even when they say “it’s ok”

let me go.

cancer, the killer of plans and schemes

of futures and dreams

of sisters and mothers

of babies and lovers

it makes me so angry I seethe while I grieve

once again bereaved

I say “NO!”

but that’s like talking to air

it feels like nobody cares or dares

to find a solution for this mutation, this pollution

but lo

and behold

there’s a challenge ahead

to raise lots of bread, for dana farber so instead

of feeling helpless and hopeless

without a foothold and ropeless,

with nothing to cling to but thoughts and prayers

i’ll grease up my chain and my body ill train

to ride so many miles all the while with a smile

knowing the money I raise

will bring us closer to the day

that cancer is no more.