Cancer

• Heidi Bigg, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2014

Squeaking of shoes on sterile white linoleum.
Dull, monotone beeping lulling patients to sleep.
Wards filling,
Then slowly emptying.
Then filling,
Endlessly.
Howls of sorrow echo throughout the silent halls.
Families come and go,
Smiling,
Crying.
Striding,
Collapsing.
IV tubes penetrate,
IV tubes extracted.
Bald scalps wrapped in silk,
Bald scalps laid in satin.
Beds rushed to ER,
Wooden enclosures carried by black suits.
Patients live,
Patients die.
Everyday,
Every night.