Pathological Humors
I think you’d have laughed too.
Humans tend to laugh
Wrong,
And at the wrong times.
And doctors are so human
Always.
But, never while it’s happening
(Of course),
For that would be demonic.
Though later,
After the rigor has set in
And looking back on the
Perhaps avoidable,
Perhaps careless,
Tragedy
Oh Christos!
And, while tasting the bitterness of finality,
And hearing again the dull permanence,
the thud of an entire life (such an infinity of experience)
Ended;
Then, as the humor seeps out
Into the bar
– far from the sterility of the surgical suite
Or onto the freeway
– as we careen home after a 40 hour shift
Or the next day
– while jogging to shake away the pain,
Then, as it squishes underfoot and chokes our breath,
We laugh.
And as we laugh,
We wish our sides would split.
BSW
Medical training