Have you experienced any of these "Love. Trauma. Grief. Eternity." Please accept one upon this read?

All comments are welcome and appreciated. Thanks, Thomas Bri

This is long, but fiction based on much truth.

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Love. Trauma. Grief. Eternity.

If there is one thing I've learned of life

Every action causes another reaction

Even in love, life and death; cause and affect

One hopes the result is a good one, but often not

For me, I now know how I shall leave this earth

For my sweet, it was cruelly snatched from us both

I went fishing in Canada three times per year, yep

Once with my colleagues in the medical field, yep

Again with my sons; who learned to become men, yep

The trip I treasured most was with their Mother..oooo

My wife, my love, whose lips have never retreated

If only I could turn back the clock of time, If..only

In the middle of no where on Crooked Lake, peaceful

Woke to my love, had breakfast, now time to go fish

Supplies, tackle, in the boat all set, forgot to gas up

As I am pouring gas in motor, out of nowhere: BEAR

We were not on an island, but peninsula, forevermore

A mistake and thought that will never leave my mind

Bear sniffs extinguished fire, no food; tramples to us

Twenty years of roughing it, this has never happened

Reacting in fear,wife stands up, leaps on me; not now

I grasp oar and pushed off land, gloppen we capsized

Supplies floating, clutched rope to bow of steel canoe

“Climb on top of the hull” I screamed to her, “Now”

Rope now taut, I swim toward closest island, geese Lord

She looks back and screams in horror as Bear swims

“Look at me and focus” -- “please pray for me love”

Swimming desperately, I could not get far enough away

In shear horror I see the Bear climb the boats stern

“NO!” I yell trying to distract, I saw oar floating

Grasp oar, treading water flail away, hitting Bear

Bear roars in anger, oar does nothing but provoke to..

Then the unimaginable

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

I cannot write any longer of this, I thought I could, I can't

I lost my wife that day. We barely got off shore, I messed up

Failed her, completely. In process of trying to save her life

I took a swipe in my left arm that required over 200 stitches

Numerous areas from the Bears paw, I would accept more, if only

Why could it not have been me and not my partner of 26 years

The closest island was a quarter mile away, and I got there

I saw the Bear drag her back to shore, never felt more hopeless

How can I fight a Bear off, and how can I live anymore?

Only months later I got the answer, finally, in the form of a cough

Visiting three sons at two Texas universities and one medical school

The cough persisted and worsened each day, hacking up bad stuff

Saw doctor upon returning to Illinois, and he was astonished at test

“Stage four lung cancer, and you only now experienced symptoms?”

He was a friend, fellow surgeon and fisherman; we discussed possibilities

“Jack, it must be the trauma from Bear attack on your wife in Canada"

I took no solace in this and was ready to go and be with her forever

However, I had six sons, and I loved them with all my heart; so I live

Had surgery; removed half my lung, semi recovered, even played tennis

Recovery was short; the extra time with the Nightwatch was worth it

Worth every single breath of life the good Lord gave me, until the end

Goodbye my sweet, strong and faithful sons, I will miss each one of you

Hello my Lord Jesus, and hello my precious love; I have missed you so

Eternity

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