Loss

Loss

We never actually met
I never saw her face
or heard her voice
except through a strange
unreal, surreal link.

But we shared so much
became firm stranger-friends
bound together by a common
unexpected, uninvited, intruding disease
invading, consuming our bodies
too long undiscovered
too long undisturbed

We bumped into each other
in this virtual world
Sharing our tears of laughter and fear
Each other’s face, name
Unknown, unfamiliar
Yet holding each other’s hands
while pushed along our medical path
disease and drugs trying,
but unable,
to strip us of dignity

And then she was gone.
Stolen
Suddenly
Unexpectedly
From her family
From her friends

And from a woman she had never met