ENCOUNTERS - contd.

AT THE HOSPITAL

An eternity,
An hour, two had passed,
He sat watching the lizard
On the wall,
Crawling, creeping
Towards its prey.

Outside,
The footsteps stopped,
The door creaked,
The doctor came
And pronounced the end.

He stared at her face ,
Into space,
Onto the wall.
The lizard had gone,
And the prey.

The wall remained
A silent grey spectator.

And they came,
One by one, and more:
And they left,
One by one, and more,
With folded hands,
And bowed heads,
And some with tears.

And he sat,
As the numbness grew,
Waiting,
For the lizard on the wall
And the prey.

The grey wall remained,
A silent grey spectator.
********************

In the other room,
The old man lies,
Waiting to expire.

And here we sit,
Laugh and shout
Till we perspire.

And the old man is deaf.

The shadows in the room lengthen
And blind his vision,
And he groans to feel,
He is still alive.

*********************