Philadelphia Naval Hospital

wet afternoons of waiting
out of the sun
to hear we would never walk,
would never talk,
would never run.

mornings spent drunk forever
calling the miles
in voices worn out of time,
hurt sounds of rhyme,
hard dreams, no smiles.

months, only hours of looking
into the maze
to see where we couldn't go,
dying to know
and living for days.

hospital midnights ‘til April.
up with no hands
in the lost talk of legs,
strong plastic pegs
in the gone-away lands.