Like a sinkhole,
they are swallowed up,
patient upon patient,
settled in sterile rooms,
waiting their turn for
the healer’s words and script.

I watch as people continue entering the portal,
yet those who return are strangers,
definitely not the same as those I saw enter.

Will the inner depths swallow me alike?
Will I return a stranger myself,
passing familiar yet unfamiliar people
as they scan my face?