Locked in

Nick was hurt one bright morn Strokes hit his brain stem, connections were torn They carried him off the rugby field Horror began and an old world was sealed It looked like a coma, but that was a disguise He could only converse by blinking his eyes Locked in, his body would not respond With the outside world, a broken bond. Anger flared, frustration grew, Loneliness came, as you'd expect it would do. To his worst enemy, Nick would spare this fate where the freedom to move is an unattainable state Maybe we all get locked in toward our end Too weak to talk, no energy to spend We hear the voices near our last bed They don't know we hear when heedless words are said. I think this scenario is probably true I watched my dad dying, I was distraught, but no clue Then he spoke with an effort, and I heard words he said It showed he worried about us; his mind wasn't dead. We can't see pain, we can't see a mind It's the human situation, we're all in that bind Nurses drown consciousness with morphine, to cure any pain But good deeds can go wrong, should they refrain? This has implications, families need to be told The person might be there, as death grows a hold Ignore hospice nurses, well-meaning or no Locked in may be a fate, we one-day undergo.