Chemo in Winter

Chemo in Winter

I awake to darkness this morning, another winter storm outside my window.
The wind wrestles with the trees.
They flail their branches in panic, straining to escape.
The rain drives hard against the house.
I lie naked in my bed, stripped down,
No clothes, no hair, 20 pounds lighter than a year ago,
The chemo patient, lying still,
Lying like a seed in the winter ground
Waiting for reprieve,
Waiting for renewal,
Waiting for a future I cannot yet fathom.
The old self is but a restless dream, an empty husk tossed in the unrelenting storm.
Eyes closed, body still, mind blank, the new self awaits a distant spring.