The New Compass: A Critical Review

 

 

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Deep Sleep

 

Warren Hope

 

 

1. A Mystery

 

They say the Lord works in mysterious ways;

And so the coma lasted for nine days.

 

 

2. Two of a Kind

 

My raked and spotted hands remind me of

The hands of someone I once loved who died.

 

 

3. Disagreeable

 

The doctors seem unable to agree

On which of several problems is the worst:

Aortic tear; blood clot above the knee;

Unwillingness to breathe; or constant thirst.

 

 

4. A Stranger

 

I have been home, now, from the hospital

For seven months—no, it is almost eight—

And yet I sometimes think I am there still,

And that a stranger eats meals from my plate.

 

 

5. Cured

 

A foul-mouthed goat who smoked and drank too much

Came back without a vice but on a crutch.

 

 

6. Homesick

 

Moving among the living once again,

I start to miss the place where I had been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope, Warren. “Deep Sleep.” The New Compass: A Critical Review 2 (December 2003)  <http://www.thenewcompass.ca/dec2003/hope.html>