Geriatric Ward
Stale yellow walls
and the yellow stench off age;
windows somewhere high beneath the roof,
letting in a little grudging light;
tired, immobile men
seated in unwieldy chairs with wheels,
and gone away in silences;
relatives speculating amongst themselves,
or, having, gnawed and chewed the last meat from the bone,
ruminating, wander their eyes, curiously around the room...
The old man clasps the younger woman’s hand;
she stops the urgent gibberish with her kisses.
‘It doesn’t matter, it’s all right,’
until the garbled sounds become caresses.
Nothing disturbs the blankness
off the rows of vacant faces
all beyond the reach
of any more emotions.
Only visitors and nurses register
the unaccustomed passions -
rage and love’s frustration -
disquieting ripples on a sterile pond.
Buttoning up her coat
to eyes that cannot place her quite -
no daughter and no wife -
she takes her leave of him,
knowing that the warm hand on her thigh
will soon relinquish life
and she, clean of regret,
has done all she could ever do
to help an old man die.
Page(s) 3
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