Day One, Dunedin Med School Class Reunion

Beaming, I ask, 'How are you Brian?
I am really pleased to see you.'
He answers briskly, 'I am dying.'

'I want to think that you are lying,
to me you seem as good as new.
I ask, again, 'How are you Brian?'

'Lung cancer's why I'm coughing
I'm having trouble breathing too.
That's it. I don't like it. I am dying.'

We listen to his life unwinding
It is barely two weeks since he knew
I had asked, 'How are you, Brian?'

He's planned out all this meeting
the trips, the visits, the Sextet too
and now he knows he's dying.

Yet he's in the foyer, greeting
his laughing, hearty comrades who
all ask, 'How are you Brian?'
He says, unflinching, 'I am dying.'