Waverly Hills Sanatorium

by Michael D Nalley   Mar 8, 2016


About three miles from my home where I was a kid
was a sanatorium on the hill well hid
a hospital for those who had TB
Still too far away for me to see
more than sixty people a day
on average would pass away
before they used a body shoot
where the dead bodies got the boot
to make enough room in the morgue
by the patients virtually ignored
that was meant to be better for morale
or I was told that was the rationale
Some of them still don't know they are dead
Trapped in the dread tread the halls instead

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Latest Comments

  • 9 years ago

    by Dagmar Wilson

    Back in them days they would lock people up and pretty much threw the key away. It was fear of the unknown. They didn't know what was wrong with these people and they treated it like a contagious disease. A powerful write.

  • 9 years ago

    by Maple Tree

    Oh this kills my heart.....................

    Michael, you have written of something that happened quite often back in the day.... back when they didn't know how to treat ailments such as TB, Mental Illness and other diseases..

    The lost souls of spirits do linger and you captured this tragedy quite vividly within this piece...

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