everything
is fading
hemmed in by
lazars,
putrid coughs
and sneezes
send out
windborne spores
fine filaments
sucked up our
noses
the man next to
me, his mouth upturned
A trap, his
eyes sagged
and a sign
above his head –
‘Buergers’
scrawled in
black marker
in unison
they cough the
night away
A choir of
death rattles
Nurses hover
round beds like satellites
waiting
for the shit to
fall from their arses
Like the wisdom
dropping from their cracked lips,
those witty
memories
said in vain
She wipes them
off
the twinkle in
her eyes
fading
with
the night.