He didn’t like hospitals.
Imposing buildings filled with humans
They were surrounded by suffering;
but, they didn’t know anything.
The buildings were strong and tall.
What did they hide inside?
He got up from the sterile chair.
He walked on the carpeted floors.
He looked for more comfortable furniture.
He wasn’t calmed by the soothing music.
The waiting room felt like a furniture store,
trying vainly to look like a home.
The nurses and doctors looked like aliens.
He was in a landscape populated by green gowns
and white masks.
The metal jewelry hung from their necks.
Every now and then someone screamed like a sailor,
trying to keep calm
in a storm.
He heard the disembodied voices coming from loudspeakers.
They gave instructions to strangers,
whose lives hung in the balance.
He told himself that this elaborate show
was a necessary preparation
for the inevitable.
He tried to remember his mantra
that we all die.
Instead, he only remembered
that he was in a hospital
and he didn’t know
whether she would ever come out again.
