Print PageLazarus on Legal Hold
Susan Palwick
susanpal@aol.com
Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘‘Lazarus, come out!’’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘‘Unbind him, and let him go.’’ (John 11:43-44)
You lie, unmoving, on an ER gurney
in a chaotic hallway, wheelchairs
and x-ray machines jockeying
for narrow passage, blaring
announcements overhead.
Bandages swathe your wrists
and thighs, white gauze stained
pink from the rusty blades,
your head covered as if
you are already dead.
You covered it yourself.
We are not giving up on you.
Come out, we cry, another
set of voices in pandemonium.
We are calling out with nurses
and techs, with the chaplain,
with crackers and apple juice,
with the social worker who will see
you soon, who will also call
Come out, come out, and when
you don't respond will find you
a bed in the mental hospital
across town, where everything
will call to you: more doctors
and nurses, the smells from
passing food trays – meatloaf
and mashed potatoes, coffee
and chicken soup – the finches
outside your window and
the junipers they perch in.
Come out, come out! The world
exhorts you with every voice it has,
with dawn and sunset, with clouds
and airplanes. Come out, come out,
come out, and let us unbind your wounds.
Published: February 20, 2010