Hospital Visit - 10 years On

The hospital loomed into view
I remembered when I drove with you
On a wintry day in panic mode
Petrified on icy road.

A blood transfusion; I stood by
Too numb to speak, to feel, to cry
The staff were calm but I could tell
That you, my love, were far from well.

You could not leave; I brought your case
How few things you had at this place:
Pyjamas, aftershave and soap
A book, your watch and bags of hope.

The week dragged on – each time I came
You tried your best to play the game
But as the doctor had foretold
Your lifeline wavered; would not hold.

Ten years on, now I am here
Under another consultant’s care
What is this mist before my eyes -
That shimmers like a late sunrise?

I sit in a corridor stark and white
And muse upon my present plight
Listening to my inner voice
And wonder what will be my choice.

My windows to the soul grow old
What diagnosis will unfold?
A brief eye test with pinpoint beam
In silence – what does it all mean?

The diagnosis is benign
The eye ball alters over time.
Unlike you, my love, I learn
All’s well and I need not return.

Perhaps it’s only now I feel
Your apprehension deep and real
Which you’d so carefully hid from view
That it’s only now come trickling through...

(Written September 2013)

(c) Poet in the woods 2014