Giles Dawnay is a writer and GP in Leominster, Herefordshire. His web page is https://gilesdawnay.com
The Waiting Room
I go into the waiting room
for the next patient I am to see.
So many sit there staring,
yet not all are waiting for me.
The young, the old, the big,
the small, the fidgets and the silent.
The happy, the sad, the terrified,
the ones who could turn violent.
Walk in the room and all eyes turn,
Mrs Smith, a smile and she stands.
The others retreat back to their worlds,
some floating and some on dry land.
Each one has a story to be shared,
yet uncertain how it will be heard.
Each one, another of life’s possibilities,
oscillating from the tragic to the absurd.
Easy to forget when we call their names
how they come from a reality outside.
Of hopes, dreams and disappointment,
carrying a mix of life and what has died.
But for a quirk of circumstance,
their lives might have been mine.
How we both ended up in this room,
a blend of luck, judgement and time.
I go back into the waiting room
looking again for who I will see.
One day this will all be reversed,
someone will come looking for me.
