This poem is for the young
ER nurse I see coming home
each morning from the night
shift while I am doing dishes
pulling into her parking spot
exhausted in blue scrubs with her
purse and mug of old coffee and
I think of all she has seen more
pain and death than most people
her age and I wonder how she feels
about children if she ever wants to
have any of her own now that she knows
how many ways the body can suffer
and be broken or is she the optimistic
type believing that living is worth
the risk and we all take a chance
every day when we wake up and
if life was only judged by the
tragedies we see I think
none of us would
be here at all.
######
Bob Browning is a poet originally from New Jersey now making his current home in North Carolina. He has been writing poetry almost all of his life but turned serious about it in 2000 and has since had three books published.