Between Doubt and Faith

I haven’t prayed to God

to cure me of my cancer. Not once.

After all—so the argument goes—

if God gave me cancer in the first place

who am I to plead for it to be taken it away?

But now, close to the end of my chemotherapy,

it dawned on me that every person

who helped to create my cancer treatment

may have been put here intentionally.

When they were young, God might have instilled

their interest in science and medicine

and helped them get into colleges and universities.

Perhaps every meandering path in their lives

led them straight on their way to save me and others like me.

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About the author:

In the fall of 2022, I was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell, non-specified, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system. Over the next six months, I endured six grueling hospitalizations for chemotherapy and immunotherapy. On February 6, 2023, I rang the bell on the Oncology ward. I’m cancer-free. Throughout the ordeal, I wrote poems. I include a handful below to share with your readers. They are original and unpublished.