Lines overheard here and there
[Harvey to Robert: “Why would they talk to you? You’re just the patient.”]
[José to Harvey about Robert: “He lives alone—he does a lot of thinking.”]
Face it, Bob was always somewhat manic,
Talked, it seemed, incessantly. Tormented,
This day, he described his ER panic—
Something about clogged veins, critical stent.
His modest heart attack outraged our Bob—
Not so much the pain as indignation
That the doctor spoke to others—macabre
Scenario—reduced Bob’s dire station
To inspected meat! Relatives informed,
But not Bob! Harv explained: “Why would they talk
To you? You’re just the patient.” But, Bob stormed:
“I’d like to cold-cock that damned, callow doc!”
Unconstrained, he rambled—we must hear it—
Unedited account of wounded spirit.
José explained Bob’s anguished, rapid blinking:
“He lives alone—he does a lot of thinking!”
(7/28/09)