May 31: "Nurse," Cellularly Tired, ""Pipe Organ"

Billy Collins talks with a nurse . . .

Nurse

by: Billy Collins

The one who spoke by a window

in a stairwell,

resting her head on her arm,

said she was so many stumbles

beyond tired,

she caught herself 

envying the dead

for looking like sleepers in their beds.

I worked in a medical office and hospital at the start of the pandemic, so I understand the exhaustion the nurse describes here.  Seen it in doctors, nurses, orderlies, cafeteria workers.  Not just bone tired.  Cellularly tired.  

Despite the shortened week, I find myself desperately tired tonight.  Perhaps it's because I tried to cram five days of work into four days in the office.

Friday nights after dinner, I usually go to church to practice for the Saturday and Sunday services I play.  If the music is familiar, it goes very quickly.  If I don't recognize the music, I've been known to sit at the keyboard for several hours.

Tonight, I knew most of the hymns, so I was home and in my pajamas by 8 p.m.  Now, I'm on my couch, fighting to stay awake and losing the battle.

Saint Marty needs to do some jumping jacks or just surrender to the pillow.

Pipe Organ

by: Martin Achatz

The gold pipes climb

upward like the ribs

of a giant ground sloth,

just waiting for me

to flip a switch, fill

its lungs with air

for the first time

in two million years.