Penny Hemans - Breath

breath calls me
ragged ripples in stagnant waters
I hear the alarum of bells
I feel the beestings of needles
I smell the watery blood
I see the waxen patina of my skin

breath calls me
and the burrowing of a drill
sucking, sucking, sucking out my life substance
while the man in white
tells me kindly,
'you have leukaemia'

I have six days before the light goes out
breath calls me
easier now, I am infused with transfused blood
I 'see' the donor's face
a bonny girl
with large, spread-eagled hands
she gives me life

breath calls me
it is one hundred and six days past the flickering light
and I can walk your path

Penny Hemans

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/breath-11/