Home » Poems » Ilene Bauer » The Hospital

The Hospital

Monitors flash vital signs
With reassuring beeps;
We watch the numbers blinking
As our friend, the patient, sleeps.

Nurses jot their findings down
And residents confer.
Life outside those corridors
Exists as just a blur.

Fluids, catheters and blood – 
A lingo all its own – 
The words seem like the most important
We have ever known.

Our friend awakes – we chat and laugh
And then he’s whisked away - 
A new procedure hopefully
To keep bad news at bay.

We say goodbye and wish him luck
And though it seems unfair,
We’re grateful exiting the doors
Into the wintry air.

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Robert Johnson

Date: 1/11/2014 5:47:00 PM

I said a prayer here in my chair that your friend is ok. And that he had a lovely rest during his life delay. Peace. :) Peace. :)

Vera Duggan

Date: 12/31/2013 8:10:00 PM

Ilene that is so well written and just how it is, I would love to be able to write like you people but I do love reading all your works and commenting on them. thank you and a happy new year. Vera

Ilene Bauer
Date: 1/5/2014 11:09:00 AM

a very happy new year to you, too, vera! hope you keep reading our poetry - it's wonderful having the support...

Robert Ludden

Date: 12/30/2013 7:50:00 PM

Interesting honesty...and candid thoughts

Ilene Bauer
Date: 12/31/2013 10:57:00 AM

thanks, robert. i appreciate your comment............ilene happy new year!

Donna Jones

Date: 12/28/2013 8:55:00 PM

Wishing your friend all the best Ilene....well written little rhyme for them...:-) :-) :-) I spent time in the hospital myself and for family...not fun:-(

Ilene Bauer
Date: 12/31/2013 10:56:00 AM

thank you, donna. he seems to be hanging in there. it's not fun for anyone. ~ have a happy and healthy new year (let's hope for no hospital visits!)............ilene

Leo Larry Amadore

Date: 12/28/2013 6:37:00 PM

I have enjoyed reading here another of your logical, sane, and amusing well-crafted works. Earlier in life, I could not imagine that I would ever want to be confined in a hospital, but when the need arose I was certainly glad that they existed. Still, the relief one feels in leaving after visiting friends there is, indeed, very real.

Ilene Bauer
Date: 12/31/2013 10:55:00 AM

thank you for your kind words and for reading my poem. yes, unfortunately, we all need hospitals at some point but it's such a relief to leave them, even as a visitor...............ilene

Barbara Gorelick

Date: 12/27/2013 5:22:00 PM

I spent a good deal of my life working in them..the older I got, the more depressed they made me. Love your poem, and especially the last stanza. BG

Ilene Bauer
Date: 12/31/2013 10:53:00 AM

i know exactly what you mean, barbara. thanks for your support and have a happy new year...........ilene