Stairway

For whatever reason, people want to see you scared.

You say "petscan" and you say "cancer"

and they're watching you like you're a movie.

If you don't say you're scared,

they wonder why you didn't,

like maybe you can't,

because you're probably scared.

I don't know, but death seems a long ways away,

so I'm flip about it now,

and soon head to Sorrento and Capri,

our vacation four years back,

and walk all those steps again.

Every machine sorely inept,

my eyes closed shut to keep from getting claustrophobic,

a wet cotton swab stuck in me for the dry mouth.

And then I saw a stairway,

each planet named on the steps.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn...

And I didn't know if it was the life I led,

or what lay ahead.