Fool
Barry North  

I don’t want to be that nurse –
The one who acted like
he was doing us a favor
getting my father an extra pillow.
And I don’t want to be that son –
the one who didn’t have the balls
to make a scene
right there in the emergency room
by pounding his fist on the stainless steel table
and demanding that his dying father
be brought ten pillows if that’s what he wanted.
But, consummate fool that I am,
if I had to choose,
I’d stay the son
because I really don’t want to be that nurse,
who doesn’t give a shit
and sleeps well at night.