I ride shotgun in Heaven's ambulance –
graveyard shift don't you know –
Picking up the bodies and the wounded,
the parts and hearts torn open like a can-opener.
I read psalms out loud before ripping them
from the Bible, crumpling them to pack in gashes,
Stanch the bleeding and the grief.
I’ve made a tourniquet from Ruth 1:16 –
“Whither thou goest, I will go” – my nitrile gloves
red and salty. Sadness pools under the gurney.
The halo lights cast ringed shadows as we
cauterize and stitch what’s left of hope, then
Wheel both those awake and those asleep
through the pneumatic doors of dawn –
The hospital of sparrows and tulips,
glittering with redemption.
For Shay’s Word Garden
qbit 
I like the whole thing but really love that final couplet!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!!
LikeLike
mmmmm, enjoyed your’s as well. i also love your ambulance line, “i ride shotgun in heaven’s ambulance” … very well done with the word list!
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is striking straight from the first lines to the last. I also like how your poem is written in couplets which allows us to slow and break often to “see” the very vivid visuals within each.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you very much. I’m glad that “slowing effect” worked!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agonizingly good poetry. I’m not sure why but these lines especially got to me:
I’ve made a tourniquet from Ruth 1:16 –
“Whither thou goest, I will go” – my nitrile gloves
red and salty. Sadness pools under the gurney.
They made me think of all the hospital corridors in my life and in my nightmares — “Sadness pools under the gurney” — describes them all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, thank you. I liked those lines too. I confess I don’t actually understand them in any explanatory sense, but they felt right.
LikeLiked by 1 person