THE PRECIPICE
I'm standing on the edge of a great precipice. I am affixed there by a strong yet unseen force.
I cannot move left nor right..oddly, I cannot take a step back from the edge either.
I lean slightly forward into the force.. This requires a faith beyond myself.
Still unmoved, I'm held firmly in this narrow place.
There is no turning back.
I can see my feet, one partially extended beyond the cracked and crumbling rock, the slightest pressure sending shards of rock over and down..I can hear it hit and break as it sails downward into the steep side-wall until it is too broken and small to make any further sound..or it's just simply too far away to hear now.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I sense an ominous presence rushing up behind me. It is at a distance, yet steadily closing in. I do not know how far away it is, only that it is coming fast, bringing with it a fierce anger forged from an ancient hatred hell-bent on my destruction.
I can hear the faint voices of my loved ones somewhere off to the side and behind me. I chance turning my head towards the familiar voices as they warn me to not look down..They are crying out to me about the unfairness of my present circumstance, but telling me to try not to think about it too much.
Confused, I attempt to place a smile on my frozen face and reassure them that I will not fall, not yet anyway..even though I seem to be able to actually feel the vibration of heavy foot-falls approaching from behind me now!
I do look down, and I imagine the force crashng into my back, knocking the wind from my lungs, and I can see myself falling like the rocks at my feet as the force against my chest eases ever so slightly and gravity opens up to swallow me.
For now I am at the mercy of these two forces, but only one is truly merciful..the other has no power over the one that holds me here..so therefore, I shall remain until the time that is set for me to go.
This is what it feels like to know that you are dying from terminal cancer.
By: Lisa Stager 2018
I'm standing on the edge of a great precipice. I am affixed there by a strong yet unseen force.
I cannot move left nor right..oddly, I cannot take a step back from the edge either.
I lean slightly forward into the force.. This requires a faith beyond myself.
Still unmoved, I'm held firmly in this narrow place.
There is no turning back.
I can see my feet, one partially extended beyond the cracked and crumbling rock, the slightest pressure sending shards of rock over and down..I can hear it hit and break as it sails downward into the steep side-wall until it is too broken and small to make any further sound..or it's just simply too far away to hear now.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I sense an ominous presence rushing up behind me. It is at a distance, yet steadily closing in. I do not know how far away it is, only that it is coming fast, bringing with it a fierce anger forged from an ancient hatred hell-bent on my destruction.
I can hear the faint voices of my loved ones somewhere off to the side and behind me. I chance turning my head towards the familiar voices as they warn me to not look down..They are crying out to me about the unfairness of my present circumstance, but telling me to try not to think about it too much.
Confused, I attempt to place a smile on my frozen face and reassure them that I will not fall, not yet anyway..even though I seem to be able to actually feel the vibration of heavy foot-falls approaching from behind me now!
I do look down, and I imagine the force crashng into my back, knocking the wind from my lungs, and I can see myself falling like the rocks at my feet as the force against my chest eases ever so slightly and gravity opens up to swallow me.
For now I am at the mercy of these two forces, but only one is truly merciful..the other has no power over the one that holds me here..so therefore, I shall remain until the time that is set for me to go.
This is what it feels like to know that you are dying from terminal cancer.
By: Lisa Stager 2018
2 comments:
Powerful and heart touching. Thanks
I'm so glad you found this touching, Aritha. I wrote this at a time when we thought I only had a few months to live.
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