April 2025 Editor's Choice: "Know Life Better"

You ask me, "what is life, my friend?"

It's not just days that start and end.

To see and know what life can be,

Step inside hospital-quietly.

There, in the halls where silence speaks,

You'll find the strong, the frail, the weak.

From newborn cries to whispered sighs,

From hopeful hearts to tear-filled eyes.

Mothers praying beside her child,

Elderly waiting, worn and mild.

A soldier limps with wounds unseen,

A monk walks past, so calm, serene.

Some hold hands and some onto air,

Some feel lost, but still they care.

A mask can't hide the fear inside,

Yet love and strength refuse to hide.

Crutches click and wheelchairs roll,

Each soul bears a heavy toll.

A stretcher moves - eyes turn away,

Another fight for life today.

To visit doctors, lines are long,

Yet hope keeps beating, loud and strong.

Numbers called like whispered fate,

Some move on, and some must wait.

No one cares for wealth or name,

In illness, we are the same.

From every walk, from near and far,

All gather here with healing scars.

A single slip, a folder thick,

Each tells a story, slow or quick.

Some stare at screens to pass the time,

Down I sit and scribble rhyme.

And when you walk through those quiet wards,

Where pain and courage guard the doors -

You'll feel life's weight, its silent call:

Fragile, fleeting...yet worth it all.

© TSHERING WANCHUK Bhutan