Response to pain

She is lying there behind a glass wall
too covered in white: air too white,
people too white crowded around her
funeral chorus of ridiculous moves:
her arm is raised and left to fall
her eyes are opened and left to close
her blood is food to a machine
that turns it white, its sins forgiven.
White coats, birds of prey!
where have you taken her?
my faith in you has vanished like a hunted animal
you seek to give your prisoner the gift of pain
so she would rise in screams above
the whiteness of that stiffening bed. In vain!
you absurd creatures!
what can you hope to save in violence?
A soul? not possible. The body alone? not possible.
What is the body alone but the cadaver
of both body and soul? The stench of violence
defeats the victor. You stand before life and death helpless
just as before me now, behind that glass wall,
mere animals at the zoo, locked away in unspeakable questions
transparent shadows walled up between us
and no one hears your screams...

Source: Neurology - August 21, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Parvan, A. Tags: All Cerebrovascular disease/Stroke REFLECTIONS: NEUROLOGY AND THE HUMANITIES Source Type: research