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Research ArticleArt of Family Medicine

Tens(e)ion

Amritpal Arora
Canadian Family Physician March 2021, 67 (3) 198; DOI: https://doi.org/10.46747/cfp.6703198
Amritpal Arora
Poet and family physician in Burnaby, BC.
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Figure

Finding the right words to inform a loved one of a patient’s death is a formidable task. Even if the loved one knows the end is coming, delivering the final shock to someone is difficult for any physician. This poem describes a moment frozen in time where the desire to preserve the memory of the dead overlaps with the desire to move forward.

Past tense

How do I tell this mother

her son is gone

How do I turn

present tense to past

If I could pluck the remnants

of his final breaths from the air

I would bottle them

for her to breathe

If I could capture the echo

of his final beat

bouncing off these ER walls

I would tell her

to plug her ears

and drown out

the coming silence

If I could preserve

his scent

before limbs go stiff

I would ask her to save it

for the days, when memory fails

How do I turn

present tense to past

How do I tell this mother

her son is gone

I do not need to say a word

she has known

for some time

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    None declared

  • Copyright© 2021 the College of Family Physicians of Canada
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Canadian Family Physician: 67 (3)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 67, Issue 3
1 Mar 2021
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Tens(e)ion
Amritpal Arora
Canadian Family Physician Mar 2021, 67 (3) 198; DOI: 10.46747/cfp.6703198

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Tens(e)ion
Amritpal Arora
Canadian Family Physician Mar 2021, 67 (3) 198; DOI: 10.46747/cfp.6703198
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