Elegance on a hospital bed

Azure blue eyes, and cyan blue robe.
Skin pale like banana leaves,
So tiny, so weak.
But that smile intact.

Hair scattered, no braids,
Lips parched, no stick.
Like a precarious version of self.
But that smile intact.

WBCs mutilated by infections.
RBCs disappearing, plummeting haemoglobin.
Nerves gobling bottles after bottles of glucose.
But that smile intact.

Needles pierced in arms like a heroine addict.
Inhaling from a gas mask every now and then,
A soldier preparing for the imminent chemical warfare.
But that smile still intact.

Immunity gone, glow left,
Zeal backtracked,.
And spirit frailing every minute every second.

But still… That smile intact.

There! Elegance on a hospital bed.

~RavS

## A few weeks ago I visited a friend in a hospital.

Now here is a fact. I have been admitted in hospital for exactly 1 day in hospital (severe dehydration, 1997). But I have had to visit so many of friends and family in hospitals. Some people become almost unrecognizable after just a few hours of hospitalization. The environment and the feeling of being caged takes out a lot mentally.

But there are some people who refuse to surrender to the adversities. They maintain a certain poise even when looking into the eyes of, Umm.. potential death. And that’s almost a topic of research.

The above is a rendition of same kind of zeal that I have seen in that friend and others. ##