Renewal
Three hours late
for my morning dose
of Zanidip 20 mg
blood pressure elevating
I stand in queue
at the Chemist Warehouse
alongside silver-headed hearts,
arthritis, stroke, diabetes
and depression.
We sniff the pharmaceutical air
and wait, some of us red-faced,
ready to inflate our life-jackets
as the busy young chemist counts out
pills into little white boxes
that all look the same,
until our names are dredged
from a bottomless basket
of scripts
and we climb
one by one, safely
out of our life-boats.
As the sky lifts its pale mood,
the highs of my blood
now sleeps like a newborn.
Across the road
at The Complete Garden
a magnolia tree
older than me
breathes in rain
through its leathery leaves.
Karen Knight
If you have any comments on this poem, Karen Knight would be pleased
to
hear them.
