The Waiting Room
Dr. Lloyd Jacobs
We sat, we four
on the cushioned straight chairs
no lolling, thighs trained on one another like double barreled shotguns
and avoided each other’s eyes
Four, beneath the framed diplomas
boasting: The American Board
of Internal Medicine, The American
Board of Cardiology, To all who shall
see these presents greeting…
damoclean above our heads
better the thread frays suddenly
than a long glissade of dyspnea
Four alone musing in silence
broken at intervals by condescending
pulchritude conscious
of the superiority
of wellness and sensuality.
Four in silent prayer, supplicants
bargaining for reprieve
my sins were peccadilloes merely
terrified, praying for a sudden death
to drop in the street and be
dead before hitting the ground
Dr. Lloyd Jacobs is President Emeritus of The University of Toledo, he has published 3 colletions of poetry, previously he was a professor of vascular surgery at the University of Michigan
