A Visit To The Hospital Ward Poem by shimon weinroth

a visit to the hospital ward,
at twilight time before the Sabbath
depressing and necessary,
void and empty,
looking forward beheld fragile promises,

they came on their own
as I lay prone in pain,
humiliated that my frame
had succumbed,

my bed space, curtained and un-private
welcomed the two
who met at my bedside,
for the first time,

in low sonorous voices
we recorded our past and
the enclosure curtained the exchange,
a hsitory of the vanguard and old-guard

lost visions and hopes
despair and disappointment,
resignation and acceptance,
that time was not on our side, if ever

the hospital ward is conducive
to a fatalism, that ones will might lose the struggle
with destiny,
gave our future to doctors of medicine

still and all wary and skeptical,
a good sign that we have not given up,
and would hold on to decision making,
for time time is most precious and priceless

when threatened, to be taken away