ward r

ward r
Philadelphia Naval Hospital

it was long rows
of sorrow beds.
a soul hurt
that went long into the night.
empty-eyed faces
straining to see why,
caught short in the dark.

abbreviated bodies
laid out in fences
along the walls.
keeping the world
out and in.

ward r
was a hard place to be.
drunk in the morning
was the way.
yet it made no sense.
that phantom emptiness
hung in the air
like a mist.

                         Ward R was one of the amputation wards in
                         the Philadelphia Naval Hospital