After the biopsy

 

Jul 25, 2006 by Anya Silver              

“Each time that we have some pain to go through, we can say to ourselves quite truly that it is the universe, the order and beauty of the world, and the obedience of creation to God that are entering our body. After that, how can we fail to bless with tenderest gratitude the Love that sends us this gift?”
                                —Simone Weil

The pathology report an icon; the tissue
staining the slide, God’s kaleidoscope.
And those cells, obeying their DNA,
cosmic dust as they whirl and split.
Why not praise cancer, relentless, blind,
that seeks and finds the lymph and blood?
Because I am unthankful, rude.
Because if I linger over this gift,
I will change, I will vanish from the earth.
In Russia, an icon of Mary has wept
for twenty years. Mary, do you see
my nuclei mutating, like words
in “whisper down the lane”? This same God
took your son away. Help me disobey.

 

When it pertains to religious ideologies, it is said that everything is made in the image of God, as discussed in the book of Genesis and numerous times throughout the Bible.  The beginning line of the poem “After the Biopsy” describes the pathology, or the science of the causes of diseases, as an icon. Icons are defined as a representation of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a holy figure by the Collins English Dictionary; as a picture, a sculpture, or a painting. This immediately sets straight the belief by the narrator that what is happening to her body is an act of God, sculpted in his image. God views these images through his kaleidoscope in which the cancer tissue is the stain of the slide. This image makes the reader think of God overlooking every detail and watching the cells as they obey their creation and their purpose; splitting and producing. This relates directly to our school motto: Caritas Veritas. Caritas Veritas or Love and Truth answers the questions of being and becoming, of meaning and calling, of mindfulness and wonder. It allows us to examine life as a whole. God is overlooking us all and his creation allowed cancer. Cancer is reality and through love and truth one may overcome the calling of cancer and the meaning of our calling. Although one may want to disobey, the truth is God has created cancer and cancer was upon you. The reality is one may overcome the fight and one may be able to do so through love and a fight. The purpose of the poem is to show her reflection on life and religion after something so tragic has happened to her; the goal is to overcome it.