By "Top" Shultz
I wrote this for the nurses who gave so much, yet received so little in return.
None gave more than the Nurses.
SHADOWS. I was there on that moonless night, though none there could hope to see me...I was part of the horror created there on those many nights; I was a shadow, without light, and none could see.
I melted in the background; and I just stood and watched, for it was on my hands that their blood did rest. The men I sent to combat turned black and bloated in death. Yet I went onward, sending others to give their best.
Many of us came to you sooner or later, one way or another. You were our angel of mercy, our shining light, our hope for a new tomorrow. Our memory of a past that we had not yet had a chance to live. And for some, that was the only memory that they ever had.
It was the memory of a "perception of life" they never had a chance to live. Yet, were it not for the thousands of you that gave so freely of yourselves, the numbers would surly have been much greater.
So, flush the memories of the tattered many, their limbs shattered and torn, and try to replace it with the memory of those who, without your caring, would also have died--our future only to become a memory of our past.
Yes, I was there on that moonless night; and I watched as you worked, just a shadow in the corner of the room. No tears could come to your eyes, for there were none left to give. Still, we understood. You were our shining angel. And we loved you dearly. We still do...and always will.