Cavitary lesion, the report read 

I wondered if the lady would be dead before making it to me 

I wondered after sifting through, what was the reason

Was it the rheumatoid arthritis?
Or the drugs used to treat it?

Could the lady beat it? 

She came in to see me wearing a flowery dress 

All 80 pounds of her, I guessed

She was gregarious as could be 

And effusive 

Although her diagnosis was a bit elusive 

She smiled and thanked me for everything 

I told her I didn’t know what we were battling 

She said she was a bit afraid of anything contagious 

She said, “I know my anxiety’s a little outrageous”

She said the very room we were in was a cavity

And “Don’t you too find it hard to breathe?”

The infectious disease doc says it’s malignant

But the pulmonologist says it’s contingent 

I don’t want to be infectious 

But I don’t know if the drugs can correct this

The way my lungs feel, I might drown

And you look like you’ve been wearin’ a frown”

She said, “They talked to me about hospice

But I refuse to be death’s hostage” 

She pulled some confetti out of her pocket and threw it into the air 

Some of it landed in our hair

She said, “I’ll stay on the drugs for now, but come on, let’s go out”

We went out back and there was a field of wildflowers 

They matched the ones on her dress 

She said, “I might only have a few hours”

We were surrounded by pink, orange, blue, yellow, and red 

The wind blew and then that woman was dead 

But instead of turning pale or blue, she turned the bright colors of the wildflowers 

She was never a coward

She’d planted that field back when she had more strength 

Where I thought she had a PICC line in her arm there was actually a note taped 

It was her will, saying “Give all my stuff away”

She died with a smile on her face 

The colorful flowers seemed to be metastatic 

The field expanded 

Out to the road’s traffic 

That cavitary lesion lived a scary season 

What that little lady planted was infectious: kindness and gratitude 

It connected us 

More than platitudes 

Malignancy awaits us all, it’s the truth 

It’s already in your report 

What are you gonna do?