Obssevations of an OB/GYN Nurse

Observations of an OB/GYN Nurse

The babies, CEOs of his life,

set the schedule, write the script.

They arrive in predawn hours

and the middle of the afternoon

unaware of an overflowing

waiting room or his need for a few

hours of uninterrupted sleep.

The police recognize his car,

escort him to the hospital

for those middle of the night calls.

Surgery, lunch in the hospital cafeteria,

then office hours where the babies,

bundled in mother’s arms,

check in for a six-week visit

peaceful and slumbering, as if making up

for the sleep he missed.

At career’s end, twin granddaughters

born on his birthday.

Memories streak across the mind’s sky.

We need their bright, yet fleeting comfort.

His life of births, his solitary death.

This night Venus trembles

below the crescent moon

like a glistening tear.