A Doctor Calls

Pneumoconiosis is a disease that continues to afflict active and former miners worldwide. another price paid for the black gold. 

Thanks to Ian Duhig for workshopping it with me.

Micrograph of diseased lung

 A Doctor Calls

The taciturn green door closes
on terse goodbyes
as my inadequate presence
is ushered away.

My years of training
might have been a dream
for the man who stares
from the frayed and faded chair
at the recently ignited fire
as I listen to his chest.

It crackles the eager coal that
is the unconscious genesis of
this meeting, the slow laboured breaths
and his gaunt, hanging face.
He keeps his counsel. 

My face is a mask.
I have seen this before
and I will see it again.
He knows it but has little strength
to grunt his scorn.

The impatient wind
blows away my thoughts
and the bare branches
of the winter tree
in the garden
wave their goodbyes.

I hear the door close -
I will not hear it again.

Tim Fellows 2018

Photo By Nephron - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7597853