When something hits me.

One of my fellow Shamatha meditation participants wrote on her facebook page of her facing cancer. It reads as though it is a very aggressive form  of cancer which she is going to Mayo in Minnesota to possibly treat. It struck me  very hard to hear of this since she was one of the last persons that I thought would fall prey to such vicissitudes.
A beautiful poem was posted on her website which I wish to pass on.

Burn 2013 Taste of Cancer
Maya Howton

Everything and everyone
Who has ever been
Dear & delightful to me
Will one day vanish & fade

May this knowledge
Combined with wisdom
Strengthen me to awaken
To the one taste of all of life

Wisdom from the timeless
Essence of primordial consciousness
That flows thru my being
Throughout lifetimes without end

Strengthen me to awaken
To embrace with passion & dance
Both that which I hold dear
And that which I abhor

Cancer and Christmas
Birth and passing
Meeting and parting
Beginnings and endings

With wisdom as my left wing
Compassion as my right
Flying ever onward may kindness
Guide me through my night