The Children's Ward Terror

{Author's Note: I decided to present a poem from my University days.  This piece I consider my best in poetry.  Mind you, I have only written a handful over the years.  Essays and prose are my preferred formats.  This poem is also about my being 3 to 6 in hospitals.  I spent a good deal of time in them back then.  I hope folks enjoy this}

Those days I remember

They were alright,

With the scent of antiseptic

And baby formula flooding the air.

I had been there before

My Doctor understood,

How I felt.

The playroom was not enough

I had to run,

Go fast as possible

On my two feet.

I could not stay in one place.

The grown-ups did not like it,

My running in the hallways

Or having fun.

When I ran the halls alone

I was the one who counted.

I would race anyone,

It did not matter

If they were on foot

Or in a wheelchair.

It was just those of us,

Those who had the same need.

The Nurses scolded us.

They told us,

“You will wake the babies.”

We did not care about the babies.