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Don Mulford

An Anniversary

Lines written on the first anniversaryof open heart surgery.
Some special dates in all our lives are often best forgot,
But I can say sincerely that November 9th is not!
I said Goodbye to all of you when I was wheeled away;
I had resigned myself to know this was my final day!
Then, though I fought to stay awake, Old Morpheus claimed my mind,
And my last thoughts before I slept were Life has been so kind!
I'd been endowed with riches which so very few have claimed
And I expressed my gratitude in what short time remained.
I gave my thanks for all the love enjoyed throughout my life,
The love bestowed unstintingly by my beloved wife.
She'd been my strength through all the years, the good years and the bad;
I wished her memories of joy, not somber thoughts, or sad!
My children too, my precious four, I fondly bade farewell,
And fervently I hoped that they would have kind tales to tell.
I hoped that they would tell their own some happy Grampy tales,
And how they owed their origins to our beloved Wales.
But I had barely said Goodbye! before I woke again
And looked once more at loving eyes which smiled despite the strain.
I had survived the ultimate, I'd passed a crucial test.
I had been judged as fit to live, surviving Death's behest!
And now a year has come and gone, a year of joyful life;
A borrowed year of happiness with family and my wife.
I owe my life to medicine, to surgeons and their skills,
But most of all, the love I've known has cured my body's ills.