pain

Your Heroine: Poem by a Nurse During the Pandemic

Artwork by Pavlina Bargili

When the invisible foe stirred in the air,
Cutting breaths, taking bodies
Infesting our peace,
You looked upon me and saw a hero
For the things I do every day.
My unappreciated toil never ceased,
I have held motherless newborns,
Witnessed inglorious ends
That came with sudden demise,
Cried with men unprepared in the face of death
Long before the air became sinister.

The fear in my chest burns
Like hot breath moving out and in again
Against this tight mask
Like heartache when someone loses a fight,
With the same heart I praise those who endure.
Now I know war-zones,
Albeit missing bullets and bombs,
Leaving behind a trail of bodies
Some of them with faces I know.
Can we ever thank the brave-enough
For giving the villain a good fight?

All hail the hero who is remembered
Only when tragedies strike and times go forlorn
But when my love runs out–
An arrested heart with nothing left to give
I’ll take a gentle bow
And think of my little one at home
Left unhugged
If only I could buy that doll she cried for
With these rounds of applause.

—

Poem by Joan Katrina S. Cruz, a nurse and writer in London.

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