Sedated
The air moves acridly
through hospital halls
debauched by sickness
and disease
as dna turns bestial
suspended in the wings
like fog
and from a distance
some say flowers
children bring by day
can sometimes best
the odors during
midnight rounds
when seamlessly
moonlight and morphine
mix a perfume so sublime
that patients have been
known to
drift
through
the wanderlust of time
exchanging cotton gowns
and blankets for shiny satin
with blue sheen
ah, the sweet delirium of dream
all this before the dawn advances
charging bareback
through the morning light
lifting patients’ eyelids slowly
to a vastly different sight

The author gratefully acknowledges that “Sedated” first appeared in March, 2008 on the Cell 2 Soul Humane Healthcare Blog.

Dear doctor
Look into my eyes and know
the dread of the long needle close by,
a reluctant spine lies in wait of your tap
Hold onto this glance and
remember the deep well of tears
within the anxious trinity of patient,
parent and hope
Realize that we understand
your heart obscured
must remain hidden
however moved
See through countless scans and charts
the behemoth that is sickness
and disordered despair
Believe that healing flows
from hand to hand
and that dragon diseases
will only sometimes be slain
Move forward in the passage
between patient and dragon
Allow us the sword.

“Dear Doctor” first appeared in Blood and Thunder, The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Fall 2007