Love Poem: The Ambulance
Jan Oskar Hansen Avatar
Written by: Jan Oskar Hansen

The Ambulance

The Ambulance

There is a midnight caller a blue light do a shimmy 
on the ceiling in my room; mercifully the ambulance 
didn’t use its siren;
a group of women murmur near my door. 

Dogs, our nocturnal sentinels, 
nervously whine I know something serious is up, 
hushed voices and soft slam of doors 
as they carry old Manuel out 
on a stretcher, his face is bluish pale.

Uneasy silence I take a heart pill, switch on TV, 
something about six pack abs,
 young people worrying about and are obsessed with their health 
and how they look. 
When I awake, it is morning 
The TV flickers a mass of white and black dots. 
 Manuel didn`t make it funeral at five.
I go back to bed,
 don’t want to face this day yet; 
as I dream, the scent of flowers overwhelms me