Sacrifice
As an old man I have endured numerous operations such as implanting heart stents, heart ablations and finally open heart surgery not to mention both laparoscopic and catheter procedures for numerous kidney stones. I've also had a knee replacement and two colonoscopies.
They are basically all the same. You are uneasy and apprehensive right up to the time they give you the anesthetic. No dreams, no pain or anything until you wake up in recovery and then the pain comes on exponentially. I thought this to be a nice bit of prose to describe it. Enjoy! All of you will endure this stuff one day.
A doom transfixes my soul
As I wait in somber solitude
Patronizing priests attend me
Garbed in their crisp ephods
Scribbling sanctimonious platitudes
Upon papyrus with their egret plumes
My litter carried thru temple crypts
By un-tongued and muted slaves
Past shallowest idols and thru great portals
Ere I reach the cold grey altar
Solitary under a silvery dome
Of inverted crystal goblets
I am lifted and offered up
As a living sacrifice to the Gods
My arms splayed, and bound
Eerie red rubies pulsate
Vein like vines entwine me
I feel my pulse quickening
I fight the urge to flee
To scream and careen heedlessly
To escape my pending doom
Imagining the knapped flint descending
My disgorged heart held aloft
Glistening in the Mayan sun
Eyes from behind veiled masks stare
Down into my withered soul
My blood drained into miniature vials
Will they never have enough?
Oblivion! My essence fled, my soul in limbo
Aaah! I’m awake, Have I been pardoned?
My death mask is removed
A bitter taste, vinegar and gall
I am robed again in warmth
Have I been ransomed?
I am soon spirited away
Down indiscernible colonnades
In my dazed stupor I see
Flashing lights passing overhead
Figures in blue and green pass
A Whiteness! Solitude! A Quietness!
Hushed whispers! Where am I?
Pavilioned curtains are pulled aside
I open my eyes and perceive
My beloved queen as she enters
I am safe! I smile!
The light of my countenance glistens
In wet teary streams