Forget the Scenic Route | Cancer Poem
The last line of this poem is from a sentence that our oldest daughter—then a preschooler—said when we were on long-distance car ride one summer to see family. I wrote this poem on the 56th day after my diagnosis when I found out I would be facing another surgery.
I want to take a shortcut on this journey, forget
the scenic route, forget
stopping for photographs, forget
getting out to stretch my legs, I want
to arrive
at my destination of wholeness, instead
I find myself waiting
at terminals
with other anxious people, getting on bumpy
flights that take me one step
closer to my destination, but it doesn’t feel
like it.
I am on an endless
ride to nowhere
with the pilot announcing,
Buckle up. There’s turbulence
ahead.
I want to get on a There Plane.
What's one thought you had when you found out you'd be facing an expected cancer treatment?
Photo courtesy of Tim Gouw.
Lynne Hartke writes stories of courage, beauty, and belonging—belonging to family, community and to a loving God at www.lynnehartke.com. Her cancer story, Under a Desert Sky, was published in 2017. Her biggest take-away from having cancer: Quit waiting for someday.