Headline Poem 1/25/14 -- My dream is to wake

(Photo credit Angelo Merendino)

Today's headline poem is based on the love story of Jennifer and Angelo. Jennifer, pictured above, passed away in December of 2011, at age 40, from breast cancer. Her husband captured the entire battle in photographs. His pictures take us on their journey of strength and integrity -- of dying, and and loving someone who is dying. Today on his Facebook page, "My Wife's Fight with Breast Cancer," he posted that he is selling copies of the picture above to raise funds to participate in an exhibit in Maine, where he will once again share the story of he and his beautiful wife.

My dream is to wake

My dream is to wake every morning,

rested from a night of sweet slumber

Wrapped in crisp, breathable sheets

To these eyes of brown 

And the smile that melts all hearts

It is a dream because although I wake to the beauty,
it is only in pictures that I see the most amazing woman,
and touch the softest of skin

She is shared with the world now
Cancer took her
like she has taken us

We are still allowed to dream, laugh, spin, be free

I want to always remember the love of life through death
the fragility of it
the complete powerless vulnerability that is breath
the smell of seasons and salt, and fresh cut grass
my dream is to wake, taking all of this in
because she cannot

Now she smiles elsewhere with her healthy body 

and soulful love, always near, but never here

knowing his dream is to wake, 
beside her, 
she follows him where he goes... he knows