don’t waste it

Lying on an operating table

Surrounded by loved ones

Surgeons, nurses.

Chief doc

Scans my torso

With futuristic gadget

Can see into organs

Through bone.

“Severe internal bleeding,”

She says

Clamp arteries

Veins, aorta.

Probed, I bleed.

Machines beep.

“Paddles,” she cries.

My chest heaves.

She peers into me,

Shakes her head.

“Uh oh,” I try to say.

“Bad news”

I take my last breath

And sink into nothingness.

I will myself

To breathe

But the body

Is dead.

Weeping above,

The abyss below,

I sink deeper.

“Now I’ll see

What lies beyond,”

I think.

But

I am sitting up

In hospital bed.

“Special dispensation,”

A voice says.

“Don’t waste it.

Don’t waste it.”