The Deadly Name

Those whitewashed wall
Hide you from me.
Those intruding doors
Swinging closed.

The hollow halls
Proceed before me.
People fill that quiet room
A baby's cry, the only sound.

Each family awaiting deathly calls
Each praying "don't be me"
Anxious eyes glance around
The man we dread comes in.

A screaming silence falls
Even the baby quiets beside me
A name is said.
One sigh, one piercing scream.

That one name,
Bore the fate of another.
Only the family left behind,
They leave us, their eyes, no longer dry.