She told me that she had lived in Florida for 50 years but now that she had an empty nest, she’d become a traveling nurse so she could live in different places.
“I was only supposed to be in D.C. for three months,” she said, “but now I’ve been here for nine because I just love it so much.” She said that her work had been rewarding from the first day.
After I wrote her poem, she gathered all the other nurses around to share what I had given her. She was one of my biggest supporters during my time in that unit and encouraged so many others to talk with me. I could see that she was the kind of person who would bring joy wherever she was going.
Listener Poet Ravenna Raven
Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital
February 2020
Traveling Nurse
We nurture by nature —
any nurse will tell you this.
I love connecting with people,
seeing things from
their point of view,
sharing their celebrations,
and supporting them when
they return for treatment.
I’ve wanted to do this
since I was very young
and I love that no one here
complains about helping someone.
From the first day at Sibley
that staff has felt like a team,
which will make it
incredibly bittersweet
to leave when I have to
travel to the next city.
