Gossip Magazines, Dog-Eared Children’s Books and Two National Geographic’s

In the waiting room none of us are sick

we are without diagnosis

without prognosis

we live in the world of the well, the un-sick

until our name is called

and we shuffle into the examination room

listen to our test results

nod as if we understand

feel the heavy cloak of time

drape across our shoulders

 

we fondly remember five minutes earlier

being healthy enough to be disappointed

that there were only

gossip magazines, dog-eared children’s books and two National Geographic’s

healthy enough to be annoyed by the woman having a full-blown conversation

on speakerphone

so healthy as to wish for an off switch on that baby

 

we did not realise

until it was too late

that the waiting room

was paradise