A new poem popped out today. I was thinking about a young man I "met" about 6 years ago. He had made the unfortunate choice, of taking a short cut between a couple of commuter trains. Guess he wasn't listening when Mommy told him to be careful near the tracks.

Who You Will Become

Uncontrollable hemorrhage
Doesn't really tell the story,
A lower limb amputation
Dismembered; crushed; so gory.

An opportunity accident
A terrible choice, indeed,
A shortcut, down at the train tracks
The train moved and now you bleed.

At this moment, so very near death
A team of doctors and nurses work hard,
You took the chance of a lifetime
And bet on the very worst card.

Did you think you were immune to disaster
A young man just barely eighteen,
What the heck, it was only the "Light-rail"
Not a real train, like the ones that you'd seen,
In the movies where heroes are leaping
Off bridges and buildings and trains,
You once had two beautiful legs
But clearly had a shortage of brains.

We're saving your life, because that's what we do
To the best of our ability, if we can,
The rest of your life, is all up to you
To determine just what kind of man,
Who you will become, as a result of your actions
How you recover and learn from it all;
We'll wash our hands, and tidy the room
Because someone else waits in the hall.

Fibril_late; 10/25/06