THE SURVIVOR

“Are you a cancer survivor?”
Well, yes. Yes I am.
I survived major surgery.
Gave up a lung.
Learned to breathe again.
Learned to talk again.
Survived the chemo
And the radiation,
And lived to tell about it.
Yes, I am a survivor.

“Are you a cancer survivor?”
Well, I was.
But the disease has come back.
This time in the other lung.
I’m running out of lungs.
I’m growing short of breath.
I survived before,
But now the odds are against me.
The cancer is back,
And it seems to be winning.

“Are you a cancer survivor?”
I hate to lose.
I’m an old Georgia bulldog.
I hate to lose.
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
“We are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.”
“Our present sufferings are not worth comparing
With the glory that will be revealed in us.”
“Neither death nor life, …nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God.”

“Are you a cancer survivor?”
Yes! I am a survivor!
Not here,
Where I struggle to take the next breath.
But in the hereafter
Where I will breathe free.
I am the ultimate Survivor.
Not in this life,
But beyond,
Where there is abundant life.

Kirk H. Neely