Battle language used to describe cancer is not something that resonates with everyone, and I get that. But today’s WordPress Daily Prompt: Pillage surprised me by taking me back to those days as a scared girl with a shaved head, and the long journey back. Shout out to all of you cancer warriors  – and non-warriors – out there.

She is a soldier, shorn-ready for battle,
An unwilling draft in an unjust war.
She is outmatched; there is only one of her
There are hidden thousands of them.
She is but a girl, trying to look brave,
But she is afraid of the dark.

Weapons of mass destruction
Pillage the enemy, but also the soldier.
She emerges, weak and battle-weary.
There are nightmares, she startles easily.
She plays the hero, joyfully returning home
But she remains haunted by the dark.

The fog of war lifts, the light returns,
A new world emerges from the ruins.
The soldier’s body will heal
But the warrior’s soul will remember.
She is the sun, she needs only half the sky.
She has made peace with the dark.