Cancer Is An Unpretty Picture

Cancer is an unpretty picture
Painted by an indifferent artist
Placing me in an uneven frame
Badly wanting to see me upended
Haughtily mocking all decorum
Bony finger jabs me in the breastbone
A tirade through thin lips cuts me to the quick.

I square my shoulders and face my enemy.
Hey, punk, you want a piece of me? Do you?
I have fought more formidable foes than you.
I have repeatedly risen from ashes.
You think I will not rise yet again?
I have rolled in larger dung heaps than you.
I will arise and glow and you will perish.
Coward that it is, cancer scurries away.