A Green Woodpecker
At the far end
of the ward sat Dan
his legs gone.
Ulcerated, so much pain,
and waiting
for many weeks,
he'd said, “Yes”
to the surgeon.
Legless now
he sat waiting for what
to hope.
I joined him
and sat
with his despair
to share.
Beyond me
through the window
he saw on the grass a bird
green with a red cap,
he'd never seen before.
“What is it?”
So full of life
attacking the ground.
“A green woodpecker.”
Alive with it
Dan's eyes for that moment alight.
An event to remember
in that long day
in those many weeks that Dan
waited,
diminished yet alive
to see, to share.
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