so this is my attempt borrowing from a TS Elliot poem called the Wasteland. i write it while i was in rehab with my hips being done - probably with the drugs wearing off and endless night time noise so i barely slept i remember being quite distressed by the experience.Rehab is the cruelest place, breeding despair out of dulled pain and hope
Mixing memory, desire and fear
Stirring wasted legs with physio.
Fighting pain and tears
Post op care had kept us dulled,
Numbing senses with drugs and warm blankets!
Drip feeding drugs into our veins and wrapping us with the slow pace and gentle touch.
But rehab surprised me, coming with ferocity
to assault my senses
An unreal place
people march down corridors,
so many wandering
I had not known pain had undone so many
Sighs short and frequent were exhaled
Each one fixing their eyes upon their feet
Shuffling, focused, in their own world.
Some need sympathy and in the packed shared space encroach on others
Their noise, their demands and their sleepless nights
The lights so bright and the nurses thoughtless as they step through others’ lives
My nerves are bad tonight
I have not slept
Stay with me yes stay with me
What is that noise?
Is it breath that creeps into the corners of my mind, or is it pain and whimpering?
What is that noise now, why's she crying?
Why the racket, do you not notice? Do you not care?
Nothing, they cannot hear or do not care
As night slips out and dawn brings up its ugly trail
Don't they see or don't they care
that some of Us thrive On silent space
Where night is cool, stars shine and peaceful slumber restores the soul
Bodies mend and strength returns
But endless noise and no respite brings the soul undone
Who's that woman in the red who drifts round the corridor
I once knew one such as she
At night you could die round here
But would they notice?
would they care?
