Drop Everything!

I've got a friend in Canada who's a volunteer fireman.
He's trained in first-aid and CPR, and is on call
around the clock, always within reach of the dispatcher.

I've heard his dramas of life-&-death,
various Drop Everything! emergencies,
and have told him one of my own,
from my lifeguard days.

Of course, doctors and nurses, among others,
also live with a pager, which makes me wonder
if the Great Spirit sometimes contacts people
with an invisible beeper, saying, Drop Everything!
(your family, your friends, your art, your unfinished
projects, your possessions, your very body), Right Now!
(through the agency of an aneurysm, for example,
which is how my friend Mary was summoned)—
perhaps a 'beeper' sounds, with the message,
Sorry to interrupt, but this is Top Priority—
You're needed elsewhere, urgently: Drop Everything!


And those of us left behind
alone with our sorrow—
all we see is someone we love
lying on the floor,
no longer breathing