Hospital Waiting room

The blue walls, the stiff smell, the squeak of feet. You sit there with your mind on everything else but the present. You're lost in your mental scrapbook. Remember the time... remember when... You get the news but it seems impossible to refer to the person in the past tense because moments ago they were "here". You can't look anyone directly in the face, you are so inside yourself you can't some out. Tears fill your eyes and you can't breathe. It's over and you know it. There's nothing you can do. You look at the people celebrating in the next one with mint green walls, no stiff smell, no squeak of feet to distract you from the good news the Doctor came in and told them. They hug and look at each other, they got another chance, a new beginning. They are happy. Days ago a baby was born in this room, the news filled the air, the cry. Now today a different cry. Pain, an ending, a moment, and all in a hospital waiting room.