Poetry by Charlie Gould

I WONDER . . .

I wonder if my lover
Ever sees me quite the same. . .
Does she wonder if I'll be there
When she stops to call my name?

Do her hands feel a difference
As they wander all about,
Silent hunters for the changes
That the cancer brings about?

I wonder if she wonders
Of the wonders of the world,
Or has my being sickly changed
Her views, changed the girl?

Does she lie awake in silence
Listening to every breath?
Trying to hold the minutes?
Pondering my death?

I wonder if I asked her
What she wonders of these days,
If she'd tell me of the things she thinks ....

And if the wonder stayed.

--Charlie Gould*

*"Works and plays well with others, and does not eat his young."