National Donor Monument, Naarden, the Netherlands
Rose and Blue
(First appeared in Ragged Edge Online)
My hospice room is rose and blue.
The blue is like the sky.
They think that if you're happy here,
You'll be content to die.
They proffer comfort, warmth, and peace,
All shining like the sun.
They strive to meet your every need.
They meet all needs but one.
So now I have another scheme,
My object all sublime.
I've gotten on a transplant list,
And so I bide my time.
Felicia Nimue Ackerman is a Providence-based poet and essayist and a professor of philosophy at Brown University.
St Christopher's Hospice, in South London.
— Photo by Stephen Craven
