Across the courtyard
out of reach
are a thousand windows
presenting a thousand rooms
with a thousand different tenants
in a thousand hospital beds.

Each window shows an individual story
a thousand words long
– at least –
with many stories sharing certain redundancies.
A cluster of cancer victims
are treated by a cadre of attentive RNs.
A series of small wheelchairs
sit empty
awaiting child amputees in the morning.
Silent elders
sleeping through evenings
never expecting to leave their beds.

At night
when the lights click on
witness a variety of adventures unfold across the courtyard in the North Wing
as propped in your bed
you wait for the doctor
to delivery her diagnosis.