Not in a hospital hallway

Give me a mountain stream with snow drifting from stone to stone

Or an open field of daisies sprouting for spring’s courtship

But not a hospital hallway

Alone

With my arms crossed

As strangers walk by staring at my skin

Wrinkled and folded

Wondering what happened to the lost hair

Where did it go? Where did it all go?

I want the beauty of birds whistling to one another and a rabbit ruffling in a mound of leaves

While gushing water slows down my thoughts to one picture of peace

Don’t make me listen to the nurses talk about their weekend

Or the doctor complain about a bad shot, a missed putt, a lost ball

And if I have to throw my arm across my eyes to block the light

Let it be the light of a full moon on a dry night meant for sleeping on grass

Where I can peer out under my arm watching shadows of trees draw themselves across the field

Please give me that light and not a fluorescent bulb buzzing above my head

Brightening the hallway for another on a cart

To be parked next to me

Mumbling the same phrase

Thinking the same thought as I

Never wanted

For my last thought

In a hospital hallway