Palliative Care
She’s stationed in the palliative care
looking after the ready to pass
patients, old fogeys, loners from
nursing homes, citizens abandoned
by the state, by family, nonexistent
friends, people discarded by all,
she takes care of them, Suzan, truly
the forever nurse, endlessly in the same
position, ready to undress, re-dress,
prepare the corpse before it stiffs,
pull the partition curtain around
isolate death within the 48 square
feet of hospital space and place
the traditional purple butterfly
on the outside of the curtain, Suzan
familiar with the nondebatable
horrific truth of knowing the past
present and future of these people,
of what is about to happen, the same
as what occurred in the past which
will occur in the future, Suzan
the nurse in the palliative care
of the hospital ward, has seen their
smooth, transparent, pale skin
she has heard the rasping breath
of agony soon to be followed by
the serene breath of the last seconds
she has touched dried-up lips and
felt the slow heartbeats of a dying
person, the last relieving excrement
Suzan knows her job well and has taken
care of hundreds of them as they end
their presence on this earth
Suzan knows all the details before
the proper entries are posted on
the logs, her final diagnosis, end
of a person’s lifespan in the hands
of Suzan the palliative care nurse who
has seen them all time and again.
Manolis Aligizakis 