passing time.

it's amazing the clarity you can gain from spending an afternoon in the ER with your sister.
tucked back in last room in the wing.
sitting on half a chair.
listening to the distant sounds of breathing machines
and a drunk man moaning "hey" every three seconds
like clockwork.
hey.
hey.
hey.
you're forced to do something to ignore the code blue they just announced
so you sing a silly song
louder than the breathing machine
and the heys.
you try to get her to laugh
and to forget
that the gown she's wearing might be scented with someone else.
it works for awhile.
until the nurse comes back to flush her IV
because it had, suddenly, become bloody.
and i squirm at my sister -
this woman whom i've seen give birth
twice.

*note: she is fine. thank you for the concern :)