Should we draw near

If all we hear

Is the whistle of air

From some machine over there?

 

Why so distressed

With sweat condensed

Across your face so red?

Your hands pull at your bed.

 

Does this cause pain?

It sounds the same

When you laugh or you cry.

I can't tell, though I try.

 

When you do scream,

It's like a scene

In a scary movie with the sound turned too low.

It all seems very fake, but its not here, I know.

 

Please don't bite down.

That dinging sound

Is the ventilator trying to help you breath.

Be calm, the only thing drowning you is your teeth. 

 

Your silent scream

To you may seem

Like a torture no one acknowledges or sees,

The monitor I see, oh oblivious me.

 

Your silent scream

It sounds to me

As though you are trying to blow out a candle

On a birthday cake that is too much to handle.

 

Drugs, I'll give more.

Restraints, times four.

A danger to yourself, uncontrolled and irate

Later we will try again with more opiate.

 

If somehow we

Could somehow see

What you need, what you want, when you make such a scene.

May I never take for granted your silent scream.

This poem, inspired by a patient, grew and evolved through constraint. I thought it fitting since the theme is restraint. The goal was to create a syllabic symmetry. The first two lines are in 4 syllables, the next two are 6.. This continues for 3 verses. I then expand to 4 and 12 syllables lasting for 6 verses.  I hope the effort was worthwhile. I was fun for me to try and find a clever way to tell this story.  Can you hear music to it? Feel free to cut a track from this. I'd love to hear what you hear.