[Gail White]

THE DYING OF THE LIGHT


In Memoriam Elijah Sang Choi Lee, S.J. (1963-2004),
who turned to a natural diet to fight his stomach cancer.

Condemned to death by cancer, you touched less
Fresh fruit each time we met to dine together.
Your flesh was wasting into nothingness,
A heavy sight which made me wonder whether

You had embraced your fate, like some lost saint
Whose faith shone through his sagging tent of skin,
Growing more radiant as his life grew faint.
I've learned of how, confined for treatment in

The cancer ward, awake in a strange bed,
The room flickering from its dying light,
You overheard two men despair and said
(Kneeling upon the floor tiles) "Let us pray."
You prayed from your conviction, as did they,
Against the vast and unrelenting night.