Something For The Pain
I think you’d been drifting
away from us, even before
you ended up in this sterile
hospital bed.
But you seem to have caught
the current now.
Every time she comes quietly
to your bedside,
smiles gently and offers
something more for the unrelenting
pain, you slide away a little more.
But at least the grimace
and groaning breath is rarer,
You are still and relaxed now,
skin like marble.
I wonder, hope with a touch of guilt,
if this will be the last pill
that pulls you finally below the surface.
Peter Cartwright
March 2017
