Swarms of scooters buzz arteries sparkling with activity
Weaving through pedestrians and cars

Visitors stream pass white-clad nurses gabbing as gaily as sea gulls
In their impenetrable tongues outside frosty exam rooms

Tribal gatherings whisper in fear, animating dark corridors
Relatives pair before the doors of loved ones
Converting each room into the entrance to Noah’s Ark

Forlorn masks drawn across desperate faces
Hold gloomy eyes dripping regret
Seeking hope from doctors bathed in overpowering colognes
Delivering nausea to sick and well alike

Bouquets adorn the entryways
Permeating sanitized air with their dying breaths
Small red ants crawl amid the flowers
Invaders in a near-pristine environment
Mopped daily
By cleaners impervious to the enemy forces they drag across the ward

Recuperating sleepers clothed in paper gowns
Awakened hourly by conscientious caretakers
Pushing unsolicited food or ineffective medication
Accompanied by a steady assault of loud smells
Competing with even louder cartoons
Blaring in unfathomable accents, yet familiar tones
As they strip away warmth-giving spreads
Force open drapes to shed unwelcome sunlight upon weary sufferers
And proudly share freshly shorn body parts with family members
Proof of the beaming surgeon’s expert skill
With draconian techniques in the midst of modernity

Sad eyes brim with weighty tears
While others shut tight, fervently engage in unheard prayers
To conquer heartless Fates
Peeking into open doors like curious strangers
Intruding on our desire for silence and solitude
As do the ever cheerful thermometer-wielding assistants to the healer