In Appreciation of Nurses

As Nurses Christian Fellowship celebrates nurses throughout the month of May, we focus this week on “Recognition.” During this week, we hope you create a pause to reflect and to “recognize” what may be new truth. We can forget how each encounter we have, combined with the senses, creates a memory. Our presence and care foster lasting memories not only for the individuals we serve, but for their families as well. 

This poem shares the impact nurses left in the memory of a little boy, a memory that has influenced his thought process as a man. Consider this a “thank you” that is often not said by those we serve as we recognize the beautiful impact we make as nurses every day.

Aroma

The nose can transport us quicker than the feet

It takes us places our brains deem worthy of remembrance

A whiff of this and I'm in my grandmother's kitchen

Another scent and I move from Winter to Spring

 

Aromas permeate existence

They take us to destinations we wish to forget

The scent of bacon and coffee on a cool morning and I'm camping again

A gulp of that and I'm in a crater on a battlefield

 

On Good Friday with Jesus

A mixture of blood & sweat 

Spices & tears

You can mask smells for a moment

But reality - the aroma of the inevitable

 

I despise the smell of hospitals

There are memories

Dreadful ones from when I was a child

Of death - Of dying - Uncertainty

 

Amid the unknown were the nurses

They choose to be the healing aroma in the fight against the inevitable

A perfume that overpowers all others

Breathe deep

 

They bring care and nurture

Hands of their Creator extended in gentleness to a suffering Creation

Lucy with her cordial

They bring the spices and balm

 

That which is malodorous they remove and replace with healing

They wage war with us in these failing bodies

Their own bodies feeling the heaviness of their fragility

Wounded healers

 

They don't recount to you the stench

Their memories

Last week's wins...and losses

Compartmentalized so they can face the next son and daughter

 

Tending to physical in the urgent

Bringing the aroma of mercy

Embodying belief in dignity while a patient is losing it

Resurrection when they know the outcomes

 

Embrace the grace they give

Healing is a reprieve

A sign that One day all things will be set to right

Including your body's reminders of the curse

 

Their gift of touch

Eyes of compassion not obscured by masks

But guarded

Holding back the floodgates of their own humanity

 

Even they can redeem childhood memories

Reframing the reek of trauma

Reminding you not that you are mortal

Rather demonstrating you are of great worth

 

Author Allan Roy Morton, Jr. is, above all, a person fueled by his love for God and all God has made. Allan’s writing often reflects on his pilgrimage with Jesus Christ and the complexity that relationship brings to every aspect of life. He’s been married for 31 years to Joy. They have five grown children and five grandchildren. A native of North Carolina, Allan has lived in Colorado since 1993 where he works in the insurance industry.  Other writings can be found on his website, www.allansjournal.com.

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