To Nurses

Like a great cacophony it is
From start to end
If you're even lucky
To be able to prevent
A person's certain death
It could be uncatchable
Not your fault
It would make little difference
If it were you dispatched
To leave you distraught

This path is the one that we chose
To turn our lives upside down
We chose to serve but not to die
But we simply cannot be unwound

A nurse is worth ten attending surgeons
Though value is funny thing
They take no credit for heroism
They hand me credit for nothing

One time I may even have made
The gravest error one could make
Not far removed from straight-up negligence
I did not check vitals and could have paid
For I assumed his heavy breath was proof
That his vitals need not be checked
After I was called by the charge personally
But his O2 was nothing
He was drowning in the air
The charge caught my mistake at once
And ordered that I give Narcan

But my complacence could have killed him
Another nurse had saved the day
So imagine my immense surprise when
At change of shift that day
The LPN chief congratulates me
For yet another sharp-eyed save
When I did nothing
But nurses work for no reward
They do their job without a word
It's too evil to even give some credit
They simply won't accept awards
But when humanity for patients is
The nurse's fervent goal
The rulebook will go out the window
'Cause do no harm is evermore