get well soon

Armand, the terminally ill patient in room 601, the obvious,

most terminally ill patient, the personification of the common 

“one-foot-in-the-grave” diagnosis, the man, old and bone-thin,

skin-yellow as a sunny-side-up,–– the guy who once

brung home the bacon, now panting with his mouth agape,

dreaming of breath, dreaming of lost loves, dreaming of water,––

got another “get well” card for his permanent collection today.

It's real funny with the front cover of a smiling cartoon elephant

thinking of something within the little cloud above its head

with its bubbles heading downward, and on the inside flap

it has the same elephant, scowling and thinking of something else. haha.

these cards were placed on the sill to the window of his room,

and from there were placed with his belongings carefully packed

into a keepsake box carried to his granddaughter's house, who

placed the treasured keepsake in a special place, then later

on a high closet shelf where it laid to be forgotten, and then..

and then... poof!  it magically went away to who knows where;

the cards, the photos, the anti-boil medications, the little

floral spritzers, the bedsore ointments, the upper plate, the whole

keepsake box; it all went away just like that just like Armand.