The Nurse

in London Punch
Reproduced by special permission of the Proprietors of "Punch"

Here in the long white ward I stand, 
Pausing a little breathless space,
Touching a restless fevered hand,
Murmuring comforts commonplace--

Long enough pause to feel the cold
Fingers of fear about my heart; 
Just for a moment, uncontrolled,
All the pent tears of pity start.

While here I strive, as best I may,
Strangers' long hours of pain to ease, 
Dumbly I question--Far away
Lies my beloved even as these?

Media: <html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Nurse</h1><p class="byline"><span class="smallcaps">in London Punch</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/> Reproduced by special permission of the Proprietors of "Punch"</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Here in the long white ward I stand, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Pausing a little breathless space,</p><p class="line">Touching a restless fevered hand,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Murmuring comforts commonplace--</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Long enough pause to feel the cold</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Fingers of fear about my heart; </p><p class="line">Just for a moment, uncontrolled,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">All the pent tears of pity start.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">While here I strive, as best I may,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%">Strangers' long hours of pain to ease, </p><p class="line">Dumbly I question--<em>Far away</em></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:2%"><em>Lies my beloved even as these?</em></p></div></body></html>