ICU, CCU, and surgical wards
perform magic behind closed doors
while family and friends engage,
helping their anxiety assuage:
Some tap their feet
to an inner beat;
Some pace back and forth,
as if waiting a birth;
Others leave for a burn,
smelling of cigarettes upon return.
Some close their eyes
Hiding tears and cries;
While some in the middling,
with magazines they’re fiddling;
In the corner there’s chatter,
topics don’t matter;
Just passing the time
is the need most prime.
Individually diverse,
fundamentally the same
each is immersed
in the waiting game.