A new kind of fear

This is a different kind of fear.

Not like the fear I felt the night I asked her to marry me.

Not like the fear I felt when we bought our first house.

Not like the fear I felt when she looked at me and said “I have cancer.”

Not like the fear I felt when she told me she wanted hospice.

This is a different kind of fear.

This kind sticks to me, like sap from a tree.

This kind of fear stings my eyes like the sweat of a hot summer day.

And I have to face it alone.

It’s that kind of fear.