Words-for-Word

*** Trigger Warning ***

This lyric is written from the perspective of a fictional narrator living past a terminal diagnosis. It is not an autobiography; it is an exploration of what a person asks, and of whom, when the answers offered no longer hold.

May have a word with you

For once

There is no gold in hearing truth

My iron will has melted

Poured in flawed casts

I am trying to understand

That all suffering

Is part of some master plan

From what I just heard

I sure have some choice

Words-for-Word

My hope rests upon bruised knees

Praying this torment

Is not by holy design

Truth is being written

Mineral staining my spirit

My gold mine is not panning out

Reality seeps from depths

Of mercurial mines

From what I just heard

I may have some choice

Words-for-Word

For five months

I can't retract hearing

The Doctor's words

In crucibles of molten fact

Where iron will is cast bereft

Doc said, I'm sorry

No one plans for this

You have about three months left — to live

I asked

The hospital spiritual advisor

Why I haven't been cured

He mined the holy text

But found me no gold in the

Words from Word

Only that I understand

That my suffering

Is part of HIS master plan

From what I just heard

Can you understand—why

I might have some choice

Words-for-Word

© 2026 John Osinga. All rights reserved. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.