We Asked

It had been a long drive to one of the
more picturesque towns on our usual
bi-yearly circuit around the precincts 
of the vast and beautiful national forest
and we expected as we walked through
the entrance of the group shop to see
her smiling welcoming face as always
we have. But no, someone else eager
to be helpful was there. The woman
who over the years revealed her life 
and her thoughts to us over the years
is now a shadow of how she once
appeared, we are informed. Her body
has succumbed and is on the cusp of
vanishing but her spirit remains intact 
for the time she now has remaining.
She had known something was not
quite as it should be yet felt that
giving it no credence would deny its
maliciously destructive power. But
cancer refuses to be denied conquests.