Waiting Room Zoo
©1993 Susan Noyes Anderson
I’m in the doctor’s waiting room.
My mom is counting sheep.
The music they play here could put
an elephant to sleep.
I’m in the doctor’s waiting room.
My mom is counting sheep.
The music they play here could put
an elephant to sleep.
Don’t wake me up.
Don’t pound my door.
I need more sleep.
I need much more.
The house was resting on a slant
(perhaps a cracked foundation).
Inside a scene of chaos
and total devastation.
Of all the people
in the world
millions of guys
zillions of girls
of all the animals
there are
from Timbuktu
to Zanzibar
They tell me
that I’m getting
thinner.
“Dwindling away to
nothing”
was the phrase.
When we were young, you made me blush,
go hot and cold and turn to mush.
I still feel all these things, it’s true…
but is it menopause, or you?
Count me as old as the mountains.
Count me as old as the trees.
But promise me you won’t start counting
rings around my knees!
I’m good and kind and loyal,
except for when I’m not.
I’m friendly, and I’m willing,
if you don’t expect a lot.