Fifteen.
"Melanoma.
From the ancient Greek verb melaino, to blacken,
combined with the nominal analyzing suffix, ma,
which indicates process or action, hence pragma, action,
or occurrence from prato--
to do-- or poema, poem, from poeo--
to make.
These days it seems obligatory for survivors' narratives
to muse upon the etymologies of their various illnesses
and medical treatments.
It lends grandeur to the experience
of leafing through red book in an empty examination room
while dressed in a paper gown that won't draw
closed around the back.
But I can't refrain from wondering
at how a description, black, becomes an action,
to blacken, which in turn becomes a thing, melanoma--
a darkening.
There's a whole grammar in metaphysics
to this black traffic.
The route may be traced to the Sanskrit mala, dirt, or filth,
and flowers into our modern English, melancholy."