Dear Survivor,
I encompassed all three germ lines
Revolution I engendered, but your gender was irrelevant
Evolution I contended, but 'tender was impertinent
Mutations attempted improvement, but not this time
I was your illegitimate alien
Ignoring your legitimate borders
I ate but didn't sleep
Grew but didn't stop
Invaded but didn't retreat
Fought but didn't surrender
Conquered without remorse
Laughed as you cried
Never to return to well-ordered cellular restraints
To be or not to be, going from not-being to being
Manifest destiny drove me to be and not not-be
From head to toe; from left to right; from fore to aft
From there to here and then to when
From shore to fetid shore; from sea to purulent sea
Malignant tentacles of love were my outstretched, tightly embracing arms
It wasn't you kept or trapped--I was kept and trapped
We all must act smartly for ourselves
It was only smart what’s mine was mine and
What’s yours was mine
It was my turn
Taking turns was fair
My intrusion of convexity
Was your concavity
My gain
Was your loss
Your pain when I remain
Wasn't enough room in here for both of us
Me-to-win meant
You lose
I was pluripotent
Totipotent
Omnipotent
I was plural
I was total
I was ominous
Only one could survive
I would prevail
I would be you
I would take names--yours!
It was in the stars
In your genome
In the nucleic acids--one rung on the double helical ladder at a time
You poisoned me with your chemicals--I turned the other cheek
You burned me with your rays--I shined more brightly
You starved me of blood--I sent necrotic toxins to all of your parts
I was a jealous lover and you made me do this
You had it coming
Until:
The rays and the chemicals and the starvation beat me into the ground
Overstood by you, Survivor--you are still here but
So am I, somewhere
I'll be back
Sincerely, intra remissio, I remain, now and forever,
Your Loving Cancer