No protection

No protection

No protection

The local emergency room, is a place I know well,
Many there remember me;
I often accompanied someone, or another there.
While there waiting,
Sometimes reading,
At others, perhaps praying,
Or gathering wool, in my already wool filled head,
The sounds of the ER almost never stop;
Background noise that I have never learned to tone out.
The cry of very young child,
Or perhaps screams would better serve,
Is an experience heart rending
Something I never get used too,
The pleading within the sound,
Of the why (?), the pain,
Parents seemingly just standing by,
No protection,
The little one not perceiving the greater pain
Its parents are experiencing,
Their willingness to take on the suffering
Of their child,
That parents so often feel,
If only they could,
But they can’t,
They do all they can.
The child,
Not hearing their vain attempts to comfort
So filled with fear and confusion,
Feels angry, bereft,
It screams fed by its almost cosmic rage;
Too much going on for the young inexperienced mind.
At other times,
Perhaps even more heart breaking,
Is the complete loss of control of an adult,
High pitched screams filling all spaces,
Like a soul in hell experiencing only pain,
Seemingly unending in duration.
Pain does that,
Stretches out each second as if it were an hour,
Exhausting,
Where does the strength for screaming come from?
Death to visits,
Families not comprehending what has just happened,
A loved one taken so quickly,
No time for goodbyes,
Just the almost infinite ache of loss,
Dream like, perhaps that is a mercy,
Yet overwhelming all the same.
An unending parade,
The lot of humanity played out.
It is not all dark,
For most are surrounded by loved ones,
Not alone in their journey.
For those alone,
There is more going on,
But that is in the realm of faith,
Each must decide the depth of what is hidden,
Or perhaps for some there is nothing else,
Just the pain, suffering and death.