Death Hovers Over You
I’ve observed Death before,
watched a seizing heart, a gasping lung.
I’ve watched it with no mercy
devastate throats and tongues,
silence forever a poet,
a musician like you.
Hovering above your head
where you are shackled
to a stark white hospital bed,
Death floats and circles your room,
observing your failing body
while lingering, glowering,
waiting patiently to pounce.
But hovering over you,
threatening, belittling your swollen body,
your fighting spirit raises its fists,
slugs and kicks.
You resist
to win this battle
this time
and live to touch one more heart
with your glorious songs.
Nanci Woody was a college Dean and textbook author before writing Tears and Trombones which won the award for “Best Fiction in the Western Pacific.” She wrote the pilot for a streaming series for her novel. Her short stories and poems were published in The CWC Literary Review, a CWC Anthology, October Hill Magazine, Persimmon Tree, The Fault Zone, Tule Review, Your Daily Poem, Monterey Poetry Review, and Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. Nanci’s photo, “Supermoon,” won the Juror’s Award at the CA State Fair and Curator’s Award at the KVIE/PBS Art Auction. Her drawing, “Smile” was featured in Persimmon Tree.
I’ve observed Death before,
watched a seizing heart, a gasping lung.
I’ve watched it with no mercy
devastate throats and tongues,
silence forever a poet,
a musician like you.
Hovering above your head
where you are shackled
to a stark white hospital bed,
Death floats and circles your room,
observing your failing body
while lingering, glowering,
waiting patiently to pounce.
But hovering over you,
threatening, belittling your swollen body,
your fighting spirit raises its fists,
slugs and kicks.
You resist
to win this battle
this time
and live to touch one more heart
with your glorious songs.
Nanci Woody was a college Dean and textbook author before writing Tears and Trombones which won the award for “Best Fiction in the Western Pacific.” She wrote the pilot for a streaming series for her novel. Her short stories and poems were published in The CWC Literary Review, a CWC Anthology, October Hill Magazine, Persimmon Tree, The Fault Zone, Tule Review, Your Daily Poem, Monterey Poetry Review, and Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. Nanci’s photo, “Supermoon,” won the Juror’s Award at the CA State Fair and Curator’s Award at the KVIE/PBS Art Auction. Her drawing, “Smile” was featured in Persimmon Tree.
