OncoLink - Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania

Waiting

John E. McGuigan

Last Modified: November 1, 2001

Waiting.

In that rushing quiet when nothing moves

Except the unreal sounds

Of coal chutes and rocking-horse hooves

And make-shift pitcher's mounds,

I sit expectant, motionless,

And stare at an ugly sound

Of numbered, open-mouthed breaths.

The malignant, reddish purple

Glare of sores

Sneering from beneath

A hospital gown

Mocks my helpless frown.