Of Disinfectants And Hope

White walls, white coats, stark gritty rooms,

Stethoscopes, and no Smiles.

People lined up waiting, for their turn

Hopeful, to find a cure to their Ailments

Placing their trust, and themselves in experienced hands.

The hospital smelled, of disinfectants

And of the iodoform lingering in the air.

Why not of the hope I wondered

That finds it's placed Leaving one, filling another.

The walls looked spick and span

Scrubbed thoroughly Of all traces,

Of all that these walls have witnessed.

These walls hold many emotions, many memories.

The sigh of relief,

When a loved one makes it through.

The cry of joy

When a new life has arrived.

The bone-chilling wails of the mother who lost her son.

And the widow, he left

The silent sniffles marred by intuition,

Of the impending death.

The giggles, the smiles, of the children unaware

A few days of life left but unending innocence to spare.

As I sat, two high pitched shrills echoed

Piercing my reverie 'It's a girl!', announced the father joyfully

While another woman cried inconsolably over her old father's body.

The hospital smelled, of disinfectants

And of the iodoform lingering in the air.

And of the various emotions spawn, as they lay bare.