Ode.33
To Adversity

Through perile fast beyond the twilight starts
I struggled for a breath beneath the deep,
And tried to turn my eyes upon the sun.
I strove amain to break the crimson bars
Which sought my death; I wept; denying sleep
And strove to flee, and yet I couldn’t run.

I opened fast my eyes onto the day,
Behold the scarlet oracle of Faith,
And closed my mind to dreams of liquid pain.
Through reeling colours, born in shades of grey,
I drifted, mind and body, like a wraith,
Until I felt at last the singing rain.

And then my limbs and body softly stole
With dulcet harmony beyond the scope
Of living fancies, mirrored within me.
And, wond’roudly, the moon within me.
Found a union; suddenly, my eyes were ope—
My mind had borne the weight of adversity.

May 7,2002 when the thoughts finally put to paper.

Thoughts of Adversity came to me about a month after I was diagnosed with my brainstem tumor/lesion. That was June of 1989.