"Give me my life back,"
he said from his bead
but it was not
in my power to give
 
He had given me, my life
When I fell, from the cliff
watching as my death
rushed towards me.
 
He had stood vigil
over my descent
he, with a word
stopped my fall.
 
It's true, I had done better in the past
As he sank beneath the leaf covered pond
I ran for help, crying alarm
With those words, he was saved.
 
Yet, as the cancer ate his body
there was no words I could speak
no alarm I could cry
that would suffice, to save his life
4/16/97