Friday, March 20, 2020

WAITING IN THE HOSPITAL

 










           
                             

               A sullen silence reigns around
               Like mute statues frozen in ruined cells
               Patients transfixed await in lengthy queues
               Like flitting Robots the nursing staff hasten
               Indifferent to anxious imploring eyes;
               The doctors rush with dangling stethoscopes;
               The patients under the intensive care
               Lie like waxen figures in drowsy state
               Their limbs fitted with so many tubes and plasters
               A pungent chemical smell spreads around;
               Swinging betwixt relief and relapse
               They stare at their destiny unknown
               Waiting for their ultimate fate
               Waiting for the unknown shores and sunsets;
               Waiting for final relief from gasping strain
               Debilitated by age and daily stress
               They lie buried in dubious, dreary state
               Like fallen branches after a stormy gale.
               Their kith and kin spend anxious hours
               Unaware of their dear people’s health
               Stay far away huddled on the floor
               Or sit stooping in cramped chairs
               With vacant gaze and unsolved puzzles
               With sleepless eyes afraid of nightmarish dreams
               With shuddering hearts hanging like broken webs;
               The cries of suffering pain stabs their silence
               And wailing sounds shatter their rising hopes;
               A helpless, sad burden weighs down their hearts
               No flood of tears lighten their suffering state
               No comforting words relieve their sad, sad plight
               They wait like mute figures in suspense-shock;
               With frozen memories and impending gloom
               Like stranded pilgrims in disastrous doom;
               Dumbfounded they drag their slow-moving hours
               Waiting how long with no assuring hope
               Each embedded in critical unresolved crisis.      

                    ***********************************

            20th March,2020                          Somaseshu Gutala

                  
         

             
       

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