Poem "For a nurse"

At our May 17, 2014 Convocation, Dr. Gale Robinson-Smith used a poem as part of her invocation.  Many people have asked for it so we thought we'd share it more broadly.

This invocation comes from a prose-poem, called For A Nurse by John O’Donohue in a book entitled – To Bless the Space Between Us. He begins the poem by discussing that nurses encounter human beings when they are ill and that they may promote wellness through their nursing care.

                             For A Nurse

In this fragile frontier-place, your kindness         

Becomes a light that consoles the brokenhearted,

Awakens within desperate storms

That oasis of serenity that calls

The spirit to rise from beneath the weight of pain,

To create a new space in the person’s mind

Where they gain distance from their suffering

And begin to see the invitation

To integrate and transform it.

May you embrace the beauty in what you do

And how you stand like a secret angel

Between the bleak despair of illness

And the unquenchable light of spirit

That can turn the darkest destiny towards dawn.

May you never doubt the gifts you bring;

Rather, learn from these frontiers

Wisdom for your own heart.

May you come to inherit

The blessings of your kindness

And never be without care and love

When winter enters your own life.