The Silent War Poem by Laura Ashcroft

March 14th,1994:
The lights turn on as I open the door.
A table awaits
for me to lay
It is cold.

"What's the matter? "
Says the doc.
The migraines,
they're back.

Haunting me.

Ghosts in my head
tearing at the walls
pulling apart my dendrites
like scissors.

I tell him this.He sighs.

"Doc, I don't feel so well."
"I am going to prescribe you
10 mg of fentanyl."
Take once a day.
Avoid food or drink for 10 minutes before and after.
The white pill beckons me
with a signal
I can't tell if it's telling me
"you need me"
or
"stay away"
This was the first day.

I can't blame the doctor.
She didn't know any better.
None of us did.
The only ones that knew had enough money
to hide away
in their gated houses
while the rest of us
dropped like flies
I have lost my wife
while they have lost nothing
Where is the justice?