Not Back Yet…

I sat and waited for just over half
An hour. Then I was called in for my
Last x-ray, the moment of truth. At last.
“It’s not the left one, it is the right one.”
So I stood still, didn’t move at all, while
The little light turned off and the machine
Buzzed, and then “click!” I was finished in there.
So I walked back out through the heavy doors
With their ‘Do Not Leave Open’ fire warnings
And notices that mobile phones must be
Switched off. Unused. Just like me for the last
Nine and a half weeks. Nine and a half weeks…
Then back along the blue-centred floor, the
Corridor lined with prints by some artists
Whose names I had not the time to find out.
Back along the tiles, the mats for wiping
Shoes on by the entrance to Outpatients.
Then more sitting and more waiting with a
Television in the corner, volume
Tuned down too low for me to hear what was
Being said by the news readers, not that
I really had any real interest.
Then five minutes later and I was in
The office of one of the doctors, with
Another grey-cushioned chair and nowhere
To hide. The picture on his computer
Showed a bent piece of bone, which had been two
Pieces the last time I had been in there.
“No, it doesn’t hurt, there’s no discomfort.”
And then he said that I could leave again.
So out I went, preparing to sit and
Wait for another four to six weeks.