TO A NURSE
Grace Noll Crowell

Surely before you chose this work you prayed
Long at some starlit window, kneeling there,
Within your eyes, it trembles in your hair.
Yours is a silver service, tipped with flame;
Yours is a trust too scared to betray;
You never will be faithless to the name
Of nurse... O angel of the night and day,
You have pledged your word to pass your busy years
You have kept your pledge
Your hands bring blessed sleep;
Your faith, your high devotion never fail;
You tread these halls, a modern Nightingale.