A visit from The Healing Muse: 'Close Call'

Deirdre Neilen, PhD: David Radavich is a poet and playwright whose most recent book is "Under the Sun." His short poem "Close Call" delicately sketches a hoped-for return to health.

"Close Call"

Your voice is frail

as the whisper

of a monarch's wing --

I try to hear carefully,

imagine how a stroke

might feel, its capillaries

feeding all those memories

with a blitz of loss.

how you must be

sitting up in bed now,

phone in hand, speaking

unfamiliar words

that come from elsewhere --

maybe Mexico, that last

lepidopteran migration --

so far away, yet in the blood

as a luminous treasure,

yes, you will be coming

home soon, someone will help

you for the first month,

you'd like me to bring you

a rose from your garden

on my first visit --

I will see you then

with new wings scarcely

perceptible, words flying

from face to face,

this bouquet

a charm

for hovering.