GENTRY LEE MEMORIAL ORBITAL HOSPITAL

To be blunt

I loathe hospitals

There have been such times

That it was preferable

To finagle an early discharge

From this or that psych ward

To hit the streets, homeless as ever...

I want to meet the man

Who finds in a hospital his home

And stare at him for a long time...

Nevertheless, I persist, 

And crave your indulgence for the nonce.

Picture it! The year will be 2030 or so.

A great wheel, toroidal, 

In low Earth orbit...

Imagine it,  rotating majestically

On its axis in space.

Here, the infirm or otherwise in need of it

Would be ferried in by great

Skylon spaceplanes, craft

Reminiscent of enormous ravens

That would gently fly patients 

To this lazaret in the sky.

Then I would invent any excuse

That would work to get me there

To visit convalescing friends

Who would enjoy the health benefits 

Of less onerous gravity 

(Of course it is artificial 

The centripetal acceleration caused

By the massive wheel-shaped campus

Imbues one with weight

And plants inhabitants' feet firmly 

On the floor, but I digress...)

Oh, I will not belabor the dry

Technical minutiae!

Suffice it to say, this future

Place of healing and hope 

Would be love's oasis

In a hard, inimical cosmos...