Hospital

Gleaming white halls,
Proper, sanitary, clean,
But within - broken bodies,
Burned out shells, savaged by disease,
Failing hearts, cancer-ridden wrecks,
In clean beds, for possible repairs,
Doctors in white coats,
Gods, performing miracles,
- so patients hope,
But in the basement - out of sight,
Death, hidden in the morgue,
The hospital, in all its profitable splendor,
A world thriving on human decay.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz