Waiting Room

Waiting Room

So often now we undergo

Some tests at clinics. Well we know

The reasons: Time, of course,

The principal. Without remorse

He taints our blood with toxins and

At times it’s so much to withstand—

The knowledge, first of all, that we

Must go. Must sit. Anxiety

Our close companion in the chair

Beside us. Any other where

Is preferable by far to this,

So near the bottomless abyss

Where Fear conceals in purest black

The hope we need to pull us back.

Our bodies disobey commands,

And so we sit. We wait. Hold hands.

And feel in them the warmth of hope.

Is there another way to cope?

I'm fairly certain there is not.

We face our fate with what we've got—

A lover who can understand

The solace in a lover’s hand.  

Off to the ashram worried Tommy sped—

He sought serenity inside his head.

Shakespeare Couplet:  Romeo and Juliet (21)

“You kiss by th’ book,” she says to Romeo;

The Nurse arrives, so Juliet must go. (1.5)