Loosely based on "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe 1809-49
Co-op Shift
Once upon a late night co-op, while I languished fit to drop
After many a faint and furious patient with assorted pain
While I drifted, almost sleeping, suddenly there came a bleeping
Also someone gently knocking, knocking me awake again
"An emergency" I muttered, my feet feeling for the floor
Only this and nothing more.
Indistinctly I remembered, in the freezing car I clambered
And each separate crying patient weighed me down yet more and more.
Eagerly I wished for morning, but even as the day was dawning
The telephone continued ringing, a singing I could not ignore,
For unlike the birdsong music, this was not a pretty score
My body shouting "never more".
My caffeine-nurtured brain grew stronger, hesitating then no longer
"Sir" I said,"forgive me, your good understanding I implore,
But the fact is this is toothache, no matter how much fuss you make,
A dentist would be better ... " he was listening no more
He put the phone down on me, though I hung on to be sure
That it was and nothing more.
Far into the distance peering, long I sat there, thinking, fearing,
Dreading, seeing scenes no doctor ever cared to have to see,
But my fears remained unspoken and the silence still was broken,
Once again the phone was ringing, ringing and it asked for me,
"Yes" I whispered "the duty doctor" for one more hour
Merely this then never more.
--
KT
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