Pandemic poetry @skylewriting: the memories are getting through the gloves

 

I wrote this poem thinking about the health care staff that simply are burning out during the pandemic.

I hope there are fewer of them than I think, but looking at the pandemic and how many health care staff are forced to work very long shifts while seeing ever more death, this is an attempt to write a quiet song for those who feel this, and haven´t got enough time to heal from it yet.

They are of course also seeing all the patients they save, all the patients that walk out of there even though odds were bad when they came in. There are gold and stars in the darkness, too.

I hope they get time to heal from all this soon.

Through the gloves

 

My hands are dipped in memories

slip

they slip through my medical gloves

as I hold the hands of Covid patients

when they tremble,

clench them back as they gasp

gently hold their hand with love

as they slip

away

as they leave

memories

my hands

are getting dipped in their

memories

more and more the plastic

seems a permeable membrane

I wash my hands harder

disinfect

I just try to open my heart to them

but it´s fraying, you see

it´s beginning to feel like

fraying

tattoos

their memories

they slip

slip through my gloves

                            – Daniel Skyle

Daniel Skyle

@skylewriting on Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/skylewriting

#poetry #love #poetrylovers #poetrycommunity #skylewriting #authorsofinstagram #COVID19 #NHSheroes