Barbara

Barbara

Barbara

She was in one of our waiting rooms here.
I was looking for a friend and looked in;
she smiled at me and said hi,
in returning the salutation I noticed that she was ill,
wearing the scarf from chemo,
her skin very pale,
ethereal looking,
angelic,
the way the ill often do.

we talked a bit about her illness,
she mourned the loss of her breasts:
“there is such an emptiness there now,
no way to prepare for the afterwards of surgery”.

she took off her scarf to brag on her hair growing back,
blond or light grey I could not tell,
she looked beautiful,
very feminine with her pale face and large earrings;
I told her so
and she smiled shyly.

It was a short exchange between two people
who where strangers,
yet now no more,
I was touched deeply by her courage,
her inner and outer beauty,
the love she had for life,
thirsty for more,
still filled with love for others,
getting better,
hopefully one day a full cure.