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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