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THE CHEATED DAUGHTER cancer poem in Genghis Lotus Poetry Collection, a selection of poems free to read online. Webmaster for this site is poet Hugh Cook, born in Britain, educated in New Zealand, and the author of, amongst other works, the fantasy series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
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The cheated daughter Who is not yet two years of age, The cheated daughter, She thinks her father, Who is me, Is coming home. She has been told, And seems, despite her youth, To understand, That my arrival will be very soon. Will be, in fact, tomorrow. But it's a lie. Tonight I should be on the plane. But am I? No. I'm taking drugs and drinking cups of wine, With cherries red to finish off the meal, Drinking red wine with a woman not my wife And discussing not my daughter but the iPod She recommends and I, persuaded, Might soon buy. My airline ticket I traded in for cash So I could stay and gratify my urgencies, Choosing to shun my home and wife and daughter To enjoy the maximum from the women who are waiting. My plan — It's wrong, I feel, and yet my resolution — Is once again to lock away my cash, And, bare of funds, to go and take up residence In the major house where many know me well, The house with many rooms and many women. My plan is books and chocolates, leisured days, Meals brought bedside and, of course, The women. This house, a place not called the Rising Sun, Stands high above the harbor on the hill. The house has rooms and in the rooms are bells To call the waiting women to your bed. They come when beckoned and minister to your needs, Smiling and gracious in the face of your demands, Poised by experience, in attitude professional, Unembarrassed by the necessities of your flesh. They've seen it all and nothing can surprise them; They've seen it all and nothing leaves them shocked. They take a pride in serving as they do, And, in token of that pride, Are dressed in nurses' uniforms. Dressed in such uniforms because Nurses, by profession, is what they are, Bringing me deeper needles and stronger drugs, The poisons that I need to kill or cure. |
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May be photocopied for classroom use |
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Paperback Book or US $5 PDF file |
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CANCER POEMS: poetry about having cancer, about pressing on with life, about facing death and thinking about mortality, and about suffering damage from radiation therapy, this being in the form of brain damage and partial blindness. Don't miss the praise poem for Saddam Hussein, SADDAM IS GUILTY
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CANCER MEMOIR: read the full text of the brain cancer memoir Cancer Patient free online. Initial problems, diagnosis, neurosurgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and the achievement of remission. Read free online or buy as a paperback book from Amazon.com.
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CANCER BLOG: following remission, brain cancer seems to have returned. Further investigations follow. The author investigates the mechanism of his death. The author's deteriorating vision turns out to be the consequence of radiation therapy, not the return of cancer. Blog entries deal with survivorhood issues including dealing with degraded vision and with brain damage caused by chemo and radiation. The online entries are part of the literary miscellany This Is A Picture Of Your God, available from Amazon.com.
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