(An Observation)

In the hospital people come and go

A door opens a door closes

Someone comes someone goes

They are like the bubbling rushing ripples of a river

Endless… it flows and flows

There is that little boy… yelping… howling

Cheek swollen… tears in the eyes

Streaming down his neck

Hugged by the mother to ease the pain

There’s the old man bent down with age

Stick in hand

Helpless… alone… dragging himself forward

Chained with ‘isolated’ thoughts

Head bent low… searching for peace

Men, women and children

All come and go

The doctor treats them all

All sorts of frightening instruments

Laid… boiled and sterilized

Ready for use

Chairs… to hold the patient

Who wishes to shriek with fright, but can’t

The scraping, the cleaning continues unending

The mouth is opened

Flushed by the gurgling water

Warm and cold

The doctor peers behind the mask

His quick sensitive eyes

Do not miss the ‘untold’ pain

Cleansed and balmed

There ‘you’ are

Relieved and happy

The door opens

‘You’ step out

Another walks in

The door closes

This is a hospital

Men come men go

The queue is long

Never ending

One calendar day gone

The rush continues

Night trudges along heavily, tirelessly

Tomorrow will be the same

Men, women and children

Mature, immature

Born, unborn will come and go

                                                             ~ Shobha Diwakar

                                                             Jabalpur, India