We Waited Too Long


We met as you were hiking
from the house out to your mailbox,
a long trek in your blue bathrobe
and fluffy pink slippers.

Heading home from my two-mile walk
I hailed you, strolled up to visit.
The friendship we’d promised ourselves
got derailed by schedules and life.

So two years later there we were,
the same heart to heart flash,
the hugs and smiles, then sudden
droop of fatigue.

I offered help and support,
knew it was too late for much else.
You were deep in a cancer battle
you weren’t sure of winning.


Patricia Wellingham-Jones has a longtime interest in 'healing writing' and the benefits people gain from writing and reading their work together. Her poems, stories and articles are widely published; chapbooks include Don’t Turn Away: Poems About Breast Cancer, Voices on the Land, and End-Cycle, poems about caregiving.