Hollow Words

Did you speak without thinking?
Did you want to bring good news?
Did you forget that your words,
magical incantations, words from
a shaman, words penned in with
tomorrows, words that made dancers
of those who heard, words erasing
the past months of treatments , words
that made buying two year calendars
real, lilting words, words poets use to juggle,
These words that said you're fine, no more
treatments, no more waiting to see if
you spent a day waiting for the next day,
no more weight loss, no more.

So when they told her so soon after
your words, not even a month, not even
enough time to get used to the word survivor ,
when they told her they thought your
words might not tell the whole story,
when they said they needed to scan
her body looking for errant cells
the ones that found other places to hide--
your words sounded hollow.