There were faded posters on the wall,
And beside his bed a watch that did not work;
A gift from his grandfather, years ago.

A family legend reverentially mentioned
That timepiece stopped when the old man died
On a Tuesday, November, 2005.

Talking on matters neither here nor there
The guardians displayed their daily concerns,
When they entered his cell looked anywhere else.

Having crossed the dead threshold
Those orderlies obese with checklist and chart
Complemented his writing

Where he obscured his heart;
At a dispensary counted Duloxetine capsules
On wheels which had squamous ellipses.

They would say “it’s a shame, he’s not like us,
Some people are born without any luck”;
His arms were grazed and his eyes were black

From the day he had tried to take himself back.
There was an alarm, painted cerise;
The staff would have to break the glass.

A girl kissed his cheek a long time ago,
Then her family fled to some antipode.
They coated the tablets with hemolymphatic

Secretions of lac; the powder had the patients gag,
Diverting minds away from where they had sagged.
They said that the watch contained a curse,

Reality caused a deep dereliction.
The parents wear badges as they sign their admissions;
Hope is not with prescriptions bought.