The 75 year old ladies’ man is all cut up

in the hospital bed beside mine.
He loves his dog, brags he once slept with a woman

& her 30-year-old daughter at the same time…
some kind of summit for him

& they were both satisfied.
He’s lost most of the bowel, half his bladder, spleen,

appendix, bits of  lung, a snip of the oesophagus,
prostate & finished with a distal pancreatectomy. Reckons

he’s now the ideal weight for his age. Great antidepressants &
you’ve gotta hope. His kelpie Jimmy is only 2 years old

& wouldn’t understand any thievery by death.
Still got all his hair & a full pension

which is accumulating nicely while he’s in the Royal.
Professor Coure is happy with the surgery

but hasn’t been around much since.
There’s a morphine pump & a cheeky Irish nurse.

Maybe he’ll get up next week. For Jimmy.