                   Incident Along Fantasy Way 
                      Hospital Parking Only

On a street near where I live was a parking lot.
Then they fenced it off
And dug a big hole
Like they were going to build something.
But the sign remained:
"PARKING FOR HOSPITAL ONLY".
A month went by and nothing else happened
And I eventually stopped thinking about it.

Then one day instead of the hole
There was a magnificent building
With all kinds of people
And cars and delivery trucks
And ambulances
Coming and going
And over the door a sign:
"MERCY HOSPITAL".
It stood there a week
Then one day was gone
Leaving only the hole
And the parking sign.

A month or two later came another --
Sirens all hours of the night
And the sign said "CENTRAL EMERGENCY".
It stayed about ten days.

Then one evening as I strolled by
I saw that where the hospitals had been
Was now a bank,
And taped to the front door was a slip of paper:
A parking ticket.


                                        Thomas G. Digby
                                        written 0035 hr 10/20/74
                                        entered 1635 hr  2/27/92
