Admitting age
Newham General Hospital
Ray Stebbing
An old man is wheeled in
sucking on an empty pipe,
unlit because of the notices.
He mutters through clenched teeth
his incoherent defiance
and his black ingratitude
for the fussing of the nurses.
His grim-faced determination
is to grow old gracelessly.
His knotted fingers scrabble
aimlessly amongst spent matches.
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