Woman Across the Hall

14 November 2006

There is a woman in a room

Across the hall from where I live;

At intervals throughout the day

She calls for help she does not need.

She lies in bed and calls for help

Or maybe sitting in a chair

She stares unseeing at the wall

And calls for help she does not need.

The nurses come and talk to her

And speak into her ear and press

Her hand and stroke her cheek and still

She calls and sometimes whispers “Help!”

And I, alone, across the hall,

Will think of loved ones far away,

Or dead and buried long ago,

And cry for help without a sound.