Goodbye, Again

By Richard Mather

Inside the hospital walls

is where the old man waits, sits,

spends his time in lifeless anticipation.

His wife, an angular bundle

of bones and blankets,

calls for him, over and over.

Nurses come with food

but she does not rise, cannot eat or drink.

They have no time to spare.

So there he sits, day on day, spoon in hand,

feeding her, wiping her, chiding her,

before returning home, empty.