Have I turned the corner yet?

A Revelation from the Hospital Bed

“I’m afraid you haven’t turned the corner yet,” the doctor announced after examining my heavily swollen bruised cheek. I’d spent the last week in agony after having two wisdom teeth removed and emergency oral surgery, so I was longing for some encouraging news.

My ears heard her diagnosis but instead listened to my heart.

“S-L-O-W  D-O-W-N”

Those words echoed in my head again. A message I’d been given many a time over the past month, but my busy mind kept ignoring it. I’d been feeling so drained that inspiration took a permanent seat in my waiting room.

As the doctor left the room, I recalled a very special experience I’d had a few hours previously. At midnight the nurse came to check on me and said, “You’re allowed to eat now”. I shook my head, but she kindly insisted that I should nourish my weak body as I’d fasted for over 48 hours.

A few minutes later she brought through a small pot of strawberry yoghurt and a cold chocolate drink. Then she helped me to sit up and left the room, scurrying towards her next duty.

I managed to stand up, then teetered across the room and sat down by the huge window overlooking sleepy Sheffield. The city lights glimmered in the darkness, illuminating the unknown in front of me. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.

And then time S-L-O-W-E-D  D-O-W-N.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

The sound of a heart monitor went off in the adjacent room and I heard a subtle click. My heart cracked open and allowed light to pour in and gently kiss its edges. In the blink of a moment everything around me became alive.

I could hear a pigeon cooing in the distance.

I could smell the dark velvet roses in the vase across the ward.

I could taste every single strawberry carefully picked by nimble fingers.

I could sense new growth sprouting beneath my feet.

I could feel the unknown becoming acquainted with the scared younger me.

I could perceive the gentle whisper of a new beginning.

My whole being was basking in a deep sense of gratitude and bliss which I had never experienced before. For the first time since I can remember, I felt alive. A sleeping sense of awe was suddenly awakened, helping me see my new life had just started to blossom.

And this is what could happen, my friend, just in a wink of time.

A WINK IN TIME
By Marusya Price

A slice
of moment
bestows
a luxury
in the heart.

A shared
smile
welcomes
joy
in the present.

Children's
laughter
lightens
the heavy
silence.

A blossomed
rose
awakens
the sense
of awe.

A handful
of cherries
evokes
childhood
memories.

A cherished
song
invites
the feet
to dance.

A cashmere
shawl
embraces
the weary
body.


A wink
in time
captures
an instance
of beauty.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

May your days be brimming with joy and beauty.

Marusya Price