This poem moved me like no other:
Hello, David--my name is Dusty.
I'm your night nurse.
I will stay with you.
I will check your vitals
every 15 minutes.
I will document
inevitability.
I will hang more blood
and give you something
for your pain.
I will stay with you
and I will touch your face.
Yes, of course,
I will write your mother
and tell her you were brave.
I will write your mother
and tell her how much you loved her.
I will write your mother
and tell her to give your bratty kid sister
a big kiss and hug.
What I will not tell her
is that you were wasted.
I will stay with you
and I will hold your hand.
I will stay with you
and watch your life
flow through my fingers
into my soul.
I will stay with you
until you stay with me.
Goodbye, David---my name is Dusty.
I'm the last person
you will see.
I'm the last person
you will touch.
I'm the last person
who will love you.
So long, David--my name is Dusty.
David--who will give me something
for my pain?
©1987 by Dusty
"Hello, David" originally appeared in "Shrapnel in the Heart," Random House, 1987.
"Hello, David" is on the Greater Rochester, NY Vietnam Memorial (Select Service of Women
