Periwinkle-Blue Pyjamas Poem by Jonathan ROBIN

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas topped with sparsely plastered pate,
added unexpected inset to stark dark neglected state
of drab hospital sub-basement where the x-ray plate portrays
in black and white the highlights that lie hidden from our gaze.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas took their stand behind the queue,
a wrinkled ragamuffin flanked by darker midnight blue
of two stalwart representatives of France’s force of law
who led cyan pyjamas to a chair far from the door.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas clothed a scarecrow whose despair
could be read by all around him, clear as day to all who’d dare
to thread between those lines that linked both hands and feet and played
a sing-song steely solo when limbs were together laid.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas parodied that 'tent of blue'
that Wilde wrote about so poignantly, o scar so well he knew
man is by man dehumanized, what’s killed none can restore,
man leaves empty husk to wither, crimson drops and rotten core.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas did not care to meet one’s stare
in the hospital sub-basement where the x-rays laid all bare,
hands and feet were crossed uncomfortably, custodians obeyed,
leaving all around disconsolate, and four or five afraid.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas witness bears that pain explodes
provoking an exam which doctor's expertise decodes
for from broken limbs to cancer grim that's hidden from our view
one must hold one's breath as second thoughts from Death may take their cue.

Periwinkle-blue pyjamas swallowed tasteless tangerine,
seem so distant, yet tomorrow could present a pair to you!
Thus suspend all hasty judgements, who can tell what lies in store,
stay satisfied with happiness, don’t always ask for more!

(12 April 2013)