Today
I watched your smile
twinkling on the seas
I heard your laughter
rustling in the trees
I heard your voice whisper
0n the evening breeze
I saw your image
dancing in the leaves
I felt you everywhere
gifting me with memories
comforting me with peace.
A candystriper’s duty:
that the hospital isn’t really a terrible place
*to smile in reassurance that the food isn’t bad
*to return a smile to a face that is sad
*to smile when we’re happy and smile when we’re not
*to leave our smiles with a lingering thought
*to smile all the time ‘til the end of our shift
and then when we’re done we can frown if we wish
But somehow the smiling we’ve done that day
keeps us smiling and we’re glad we smiled that way.
.
.
My father asked me to find this poem, because he’ll be speaking at a candystriper recognition evening this week in the extended care facility where he lives. I wrote it when I was 15 for a display. I volunteered at our local hospital and an extended care facility as a candystriper from grades nine through twelve, accumulating nearly 700 hours (close enough that I was given the charm for it). I worked surgical, medical, and pediatric floors, as well as admitting. We filled and distributed water jugs, distributed food trays, helped feed patients, ran errands, delivered flowers, etc. I was only vaguely interested in nursing, and my hospital time quickly informed me that I didn’t want to pursue a career in nursing, but I loved working at the hospital, helping people who needed my smiling face. I will try to scan in the photo of me with the display. I had to borrow a microscope to record the poem! lol
There is no poem today.
The muses did not stop my way.
Regretfully I must decline
upon some vague truth to opine
Today for you there is no verse.
but chin up, it could be worse!
I
am sky
You
are an
ocean view
We are
a forest
of trees.
Sigh
blue
sea.
I.
You
We.
Two horses, white and bay
stand companionably
munching their lunches.
Atop the bay,
upon each vertebrae,
perches a bitty bird,
observing the world:
A small flock aligned
along an equine
telephone line.
The white mare, back bare,
munches, and muses
on popularity’s
winners and losers.
.
.
Coming home from work the other day, I looked into a field and was amused to see this sight. I wish I’d had my camera with me, but since I didn’t, here’s a picture made from words for you. 😉
Shawn L. Bird 