The Living And The Dead

I’m not sure what the plant is
But its leaves are mangy brown
When I look at it, I take a fit
Like me, it’s going down.

It would have made out better
With some tender loving care
But my son’s in Costa Rica now
And I’m so rarely there.

So now it needs attention
But I don’t know what to do –
“To live the brown needs cutting back
With stocks and green leaves too –

It’s of the live and living
Of the dying and the dead;
From here your journey is up to you
And your problem’s in your head.”

The surgeon took a chunk out
With lymph nodes and blood supply
And now he’s clipped from part that’s left
In case it has gone awry.

I don’t know if they got it –
That cancerous part clipped first
For all I know something worse would grow
If the part removed was worst.

Why do we draw conclusions
When the facts at best are vague?
Like rat that’s killed and taken away
With fleas – averting a plague.

I go back to my pruning –
Then I ponder with my knife
That in cutting back our life’s on track
And the root brings forth new life.

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