The Ambulance 1 Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The Ambulance

There is a midnight caller a blue light do a shimmy
on the ceiling in my room; mercifully the ambulance
didn't use its siren;
a group of women murmur near my door.

Dogs, our nocturnal sentinels,
nervously whine I know something serious is up,
hushed voices and soft slam of doors
as they carry old Manuel out
on a stretcher, his face is bluish pale.

Uneasy silence I take a heart pill, switch on TV,
something about six pack abs,
young people worrying about and are obsessed with their health
and how they look.
When I awake, it is morning
The TV flickers a mass of white and black dots.
Manuel didn't make it funeral at five.
I go back to bed,
don't want to face this day yet;
as I dream, the scent of flowers overwhelms me