To the woman in room seventy-two, Do you realise how much we will miss you? For usually something you would do or say, Would make us smile that day. The conversations you had with your imaginary friends, Caused us to wonder what was going on in your head. And when you became loud we would […]

As the child is borne Sounds retreat, No beating heart Or deep breathing Overrides a Blanketing Silence The melody of machines Reiterate our worst fear Coming through The quiet announces, In strident voice That that was living Is no longer. A child is borne to silence? No child is silent When born. And no room […]

Dorothy grew up during the depression. Her circumstances were probably not all that unusual for the times though there were bizarre and unique experiences that left her in awe of her apparent and much wanted normality. The earliest photo of her depicted a fairy tale childhood. She had short, fluffy, blond hair and the sun […]

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the ward Not a sick child was stirring, not a single cry heard The children were sleeping in hard, lumpy beds Fighting waves of nausea and thumping heads Parents like me, just plain mums and dads Were trying to rest in pull out sofa beds When out […]

The joy of the bedpan, of course it can not be the nurses fan, But for the child, woman or man, It certainly has its place, When after its use it brings a smile to the users face. Gone is that day of that cold, silver, metal pan Patients sticking and not wanting to lay, […]

Like a door that leads to another Humanity’s attempt is revealed To relieve a challenged life with joy When the body is in turmoil. Caring is divine and comes from the heart Nurses and midwives in rostered shifts Like angels and Samaritans Give the fallen a lift. For time will never fail To trap the […]

I work with the down and out Those that society have forgotten Their full of anger and self-doubt Cause the world thinks their rotten It’s an unusual style of nursing And it’s different every day Drugs, depression and a lot of cursing that is the prison way There are many similarities But done in a […]

Some seem born to nurse, Others, nursing chooses them. Each, their own journey. This is my take on the traditional Japanese style of poem, the haiku. I wrote this poem to celebrate the diversity of our workforce. While some seems to have had a calling, and see nursing as an essential part of their being, […]

There in the corner they are, the belongings. Once owned by her; she’s gone, you know. Away they are packed in a neat little stack, Nothing, no nothing, can bring her back. Accept the stark fact, nothing can last, Away time went, away to fast. Sad to gaze upon, the belongings. They’ve served their time […]

You remember the faces more than the names. The eyes, tears, wrinkles and smiles. Those moments when a sentence or two would be uttered that stays with you forever. Like the old war veteran who took one look at his dinner in disgust, gasping through the oxygen. “Rice” he said “Bloody rice. I was in […]