Am I telling you anything about my cancer?

By John Bos

It is October 5, 2004 and I am alive. I rejoice in the company of other singers of life’s songs even though that rejoicing includes tears for those no longer singing. It is a rich time, full of expectations and trepidation, full of pizzazz and powerlessness, full of romance and regret, full of gratefulness and grumbling, full of grace and forgetfulness.

I am alive.

John Bos was one of the original members, in 2003, of Spirit of the Written Word at Cancer Connection. This piece is from “Words to Live By,” the collection of inspiring poems and prose that he directed and co-edited as a fundraiser for Cancer Connection (available for purchase on the Cancer Connection website). He lived exuberantly for over twenty years after a melanoma diagnosis, and left us in 2024 at age 88.