By Milind Padki
Forty hands: Black, white, Jewish, Filipino
Gujrathi, Hispanic jumped on me instantly
to block my ascension that day: One collecting my urine,
the other running an EKG with a horrified stare,
A third pushing my trolley at world-record speed
To the operations theatre.
The doctor, forty and swift of hand, kept up
A jokey banter as he worked a balloon and then a stent
Up my coronary. I joked back feebly saying
if only you guys had some stem cells
There would be no infarct here.
He rolled his eyes.
Door to balloon in eleven minutes:
They pride themselves on that score, like superball.
They beat the other hospitals hands-down.
Soon I was out carrying
A duffel bag home. A minor incident, this.
“Farewell!” They said, as I left. “Go to a large body of water nearby,
Sit on the grass, dip your feet in the ice-cold water.
Yes, it is ice-cold today, but soon the ducks and geese will be back.”
Milind Padki is a member of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County.