When I am done I will be able to say:
I stood my post.

My post is in the ER.
Next to my patients and their families.
Next to my colleagues.

I have stood this post through good and bad.
Happy and sad.
On beautiful afternoons when my family is out playing
And at night when they are asleep safe in bed.

I do not always share with them what I see.
Some is too horrible to say out loud.
Some is only funny to those like me.

There are times when I think I will soon be done.
That I will not be able to take one more sad thing.
That I will have given away as much of my soul as I can spare.
That I will no longer toil so close to sadness and tragedy.

But that time is in the future.
For now the pride in my work,
the vitality of my colleagues,
and the difference I make every day is enough.

All that good far outweighs the sad.

So for now you know where to find me:
In the ER.
Next to my patients.
Next to my friends.

Standing my post.

Dedicated to my friends and colleagues in our Emergency Department at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ.