A heart beating beating like a tightly clenched

fist on a door that will never be opened. . .

The air was low in oxygen

and that what they were involved in

the experience they were going through ,

threatened to suffocate them

and destroy everything ,

everything they believed in . . .

Two paramedics pick up a stretcher

bearing a yellow plastic sack ,

the ambulance disappears off down

the forest road and soon

this will be the loneliest place on earth . . .

In a windowless room with tiled walls

three identical metal tables lit up

by fluorescent strip-lights ,

The yellowing bruises ,

the burn marks  ,

the black holes ,

the black holes . . .