Goodbye, Michael…

This courtesy of Tom Armstrong: Ordinary Extraordinary is reporting that Michael of One Foot in Front of the Other has died after his long bout with cancer.

I have been a fan of Michael’s blog for a long time. His has definitely been one of my favorite “Buddhist blogs.” And, like many of you, I have been incredibly affected by the recent posts in which he confronted his illness and his feelings about dying directly. He was friendly to this blog, commenting on a couple of occasions, including very recently. I never met him, but I’m very sad that he’s gone. I was touched by his work–by his life.

Below is Michael’s last post in its entirety. It’s one of his devastating poems.

    “Fatigue”

    Looking in my bathroom mirror
    I see the steady progress of death
    as he moves like an eclipse
    across my face

    My skin grows more taut
    my beard is shot through with gray
    my eyes are increasingly bloodshot
    I can’t recognize this person staring back at me –
    in fact
    this stranger is scaring me

    My physical weakness astounds me
    my arms don’t listen anymore
    my sense of balance has forsaken me

    But, blessing of blessings
    I can still feel the life spark
    I can still feel the life spark