I saw a woman

Her name was Courage, and she had no hair

She shone like a mirror, dressed in a simple bathing suit

She breathed the Lake Tahoe air

She was young, with a sweet face, body shapely

The suffering she had known

Had etched her gentle soul

Like the sands where the waves splashed 

And the wind had blown

It took so much more courage

Than I have ever dreamed or pretended to have

For that she cherished every moment, alive

Reveling in her battle against

A heartless enemy, unseen

I stuttered a few words of encouragement

To ease her pain, yet

When she looked into my eyes she made me see

I was the one in torment, knowing

I had not faced my cowardly soul

As she had

And pitted it against the pending doom

Like the last rays of sunshine glaring fierce and bright

Against the unrelenting night

She stood looking into the face of death

Unafraid to live

I could only believe that death would come to her 

Most obsequious, apologetic

As a gardener harvesting the brightest, loveliest rose

She wasn't angry, I think

Or even resigned to her fate

She simply loved, with her eyes and her soul

All that she, and every one of us

Is so privileged to see

Another day in our lives