POEM REMEMBERING A COLLAPSED LUNG

 

MY POST-OP CASE

For days I carried about

A case containing a whirlpool

When I exercised my battered frame

Walking up and down

The cardiac recovery ward.

Inspectors came at evening

To observe the swirling liquid.

Well, is it slowing down or not?

I asked when one of them

Had stared for far too long

At my body’s agitated humours.

But they found it hard to call,

Like watchers for the shape

Of Proteus in the waves

That tumbled on Grecian shores.

© CIARAN O'DRISCOLL 2023