There Is No Mistaking
Upon Entering From Bright Sunlight
To Pale Luminescence,
The Sickening Sweet Odor
Of Scrubbed Diseases And Antiseptic Decay.
It Fills The Hallways And Elevator,
And The Heated Sterile Rooms Take It
Into Their Wheezing Lungs.
And I Lie Here Dying…
Covered To The Armpits
With Starchy Sheets,
Suffocating…
While Soft-Soled Angels Glide From Pain
To Personal Pain-Â…
And Distraught Families
Hover Over The Next Bed
Where An Old Man Opens
His Eyes Like A Sleepy Child
And His Wax-Like Mask Softens
Into Final Understanding
As His Last Breath
Whistles Shrilly Into Eternal Quiet.
My God-Â…why Here?
Why Not Outside The Cozy Houses
Of Our Lives-Â…where Cool Breezes And
Warm Sunlight Nurture The Green Lawns
And Loving Fathers Teach
Laughing Children To Catch A Ball
Thrown With Gentle Care-Â…
Why Not In The Cool Dark Bedrooms
Of Our Lives-Â…where A Silent Man Stands
Over The Quiet Breaths Of A Dreaming Lover.
Why Not Anywhere But Here-Â…
Where Life Is Not Nurtured
But Depressed-Â…
Packaged And Thrown Away In Formaldehyde,
And Rubber Corpses Draped In Purple
Are Wheeled Down The Main Artery
Past Closed Doors-Â…
Delivered In Darkness To The Waiting World.