While sweat rolls down my arse crack
Insects infect the night with song
And bush chickens disturb her herbs
She sleeps upstairs injured breast
Supported by a fat white pillow
I flew from Melbourne to Darwin to hear
Her surgeon say the lump was benign
His soft voice a counterpoint to gravity
He sliced along the breast crease
(to minimise scaring) and tunneled
Toward her adenoidal accretion
Like an escape artist on a mission
Found her in the discharge lounge
Swabbed and drugged and tended by a colleague
How to account for two weeks of intrigue
Stress taking its toll as she folded and fell
Unable even to clean up after herself
Took her home to squalor and got to work
Dusting mopping washing stashing
All the while marveling at the spectacle
Of seeing the strongest woman I have ever known
Completely and utterly fall apart
Marveling at myself for holding her up
Calling deaths bluff
Heeding the call of the heart.
© shaun patrick green 2011
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