All patients have needs

I wonder what this one’s will be

I hear its heart beat

I see the body move through a t.v. and think

What kind of life it will be

Although it can’t talk and respond to me

I get its answers indirectly

The questions I ask are routine to me

Unfortunately she answers them positively

Hearing the answers I begin to see

That this patient will inevitably need me

I begin my differential

Of what has passed through

And again I wonder, of what its needs will be

As I say good-bye and wait to see

I wish she had thought of its needs before me.