TAKE MY TEARS
H. W. Bryce
To all the idiots who continue to swarm in defiance of good sense
and safety and to those “leaders” who ignore the ban and travel and who leave the country,
and the rest of us behind with the ever increasingly strong killer virus,
take a look at reality. THINK! You apparently believe in denial, just not in self denial.
Here is what you escaped, for a few pleasurable moments. Good for you.
Written Dec 10/20 – grn ntbk nov 18-20 –
Take my tears, they are kisses,
My treasures of love. These teardrops
Kiss you goodbye and flow into
That bright new day and remember me.
She stepped in, after shift, to cover
For a fellow nurse forced to take an
Emergency break. The patient was a
Mother of two daughters, fighting,
Fighting, fighting to breathe, to last
Long enough to see her daughters
One last time.
She does not know the ward is closed
To all visitors, and closing this night
To nurses, who will henceforth wear
Name tags for the humanity of human
Touch in place of touching touch. They
Will now have to read their patients’
Charts, and check their conditions via
Binoculars, the disease is that
contagious.
But for now, our nurse stands bedside,
Physically holding the mother’s hand and
Looking into her desperate, panicked eyes.
And our nurse is fighting panic, too, for
All signs are terminal. Hours left to fight
For one more breath. Grasping nurse’s
Hand as a strand of life, starting to
Hallucinate, clinging to nurse’s words:
“Your daughters will be here soon, Mary.
Soon your daughters will come.
They are on their way, Mary.
Your daughters love you, my dear,
Your daughters love you
very much.”
And nurse’s tears flow down her cheeks,
Soak through her protective mask, and
Fall from her face shield to kiss the
The cheeks of the dying mother.
And the mother’s eyes close, and she
Heaves her last, heavy breath, knowing
That she was loved, that she was not
Alone, believing that her daughters
were there.
And then the daughters were.
Take these tears, dear caring nurse,
As a lasting tribute to your loving
Compassion and your beyond-duty
Saintly work. Take these tears and
Hold them. They are your heavenly
Reward; they are our everlasting
Thank You. They are halos in the light.
Your tribute to wear. For you
are NURSE!
Take these tears and wash away your grief,
Look at them, see them in the light,
See the light refract, see that brighter future
They hold inside of them. Here,
Take these tears. Let them wash away
Some of the hurt.
— —
Upon reading about ICU nurses in the Covid wards in Canada, expressing their tears and fears.
This is for their professional efforts, and their love.
References taken from various news stories.
Dedicated to the doctors, the nurses, the aides, the morticians,
The wonderful government health officers and the families
Of the Covid 19 victims.
