Poem – While the Anesthesia Lasts

While the anesthesia lasts
And pumps normalcy through his veins
The spirit wears thin
While his senses remain

Years of calm companionship
Mute the cackle and snuff the spark
The nurse peers at the hour
Before the patient knows it’s dark

 

Waking from his coma
To a visage unremembered
Possibility seizes reason
And he leaves by light of lantern

The shadows entice
So much so that he plays
The nurse questions his absence
But moves on with her days

 

Dawn strikes the patient
In fool’s naked glory
The shadows have receded
All that’s left is a story

 

He returns to the hospital
Feet bleeding, dress tattered
And finds the nurse at the bedside
Of the next one that matters

Accosting her swiftly
He pleads for a warm bed

But the nurse in her duty
Redirects him instead.

-Brett W. Urben