Cartography of Choice

in a hushed corridor

he stands, scrubs on—

both shield and burden.

eyes meet across sterile space,

questions hang, framed by life's edge

time indifferent, keeps its steady march

his education, a tangle

of science, ethics—

now faces the gray

of a DNACPR form.

duty and ambiguity collide

the weight of a choice descends

mentors whisper old wisdom

fragmentary guidance,

yet the ethics remain cloudy.

hand trembles above paper,

then commits—

the form is marked

this choice, silent but echoing,

becomes a fixed point

on his ethical map—

a complex intersection

of autonomy, duty,

life and death