I Imagine She Said Carefully - Topic: Jane Toppan

I IMAGINE SHE SAID CAREFULLY

It is 2:00 a.m. Yes, we are in Boston

Just one year past a new century-

1901.

Nurse Toppan prepares a dose

For Mr. Davis

Who waits restlessly under blankets

And fear.

She walks through Davis’ darken rooms

Blowing out each candle of every one before

She goes

Then in the last room where Davis lays

quiet and alone

“are we ready for a nightly sip?” (I imagine she said

carefully) not thinking about his heart

And gathers a syringe from the medical bag given to

Her at Cambridge and

Fills the needle full. Morphine, perhaps a touch of

Strychnine

Davis’ teeth clinch when the poison plunges

his veins and his breathing accelerates

and his mouth dries and his eyes close.

and Nurse Toppan softly unzips her white coat

with stains and removes her black shoes with dirt.

She stands over Davis only for a moment

then pulls the sheets back from Davis’ back

(He might have known and not cared, he might have

Read the newspapers and not recognized Nurse Toppan)

he knows her in his last moments with poisonous pleasure

in his tired veins; she slips innocently next to him, presses

against his body with her arms around his chest. she holds

him tightly and whispers “now, stop breathing”