Jo Westren: the Poet was a Nurse
Posted: November 11, 2011 Filed under: English, Jo Westren | Tags: Remembrance Day poems, War poems Comments Off on Jo Westren: the Poet was a Nurse
ZP_Toronto sculptor Florence Wyle’s memorial to Nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915)
.
Brief Sanctuary
.
You from the guns
and I from tending,
made love at an inn;
deep-dusked
in a narrow room
were freed from war,
from fear of our fear,
made of our smooth limbs
our sweet love
sanctuary
each for the other.
In the empty saloon
drank then cool wine
and sang as you
strummed the piano.
When time moved from us
and we must go,
we drew our glasses close
on the bare table,
their shadows one.
Look, we said,
they will stand here
together
when we have gone,
images of ourselves,
witnesses to our love.
As we left
you smiled at me
lifting the latch,
then the bombs came…
*
Behind the Screens
.
Meticulously
I dress your wound
knowing you cannot live.
In ten swift rivers
from my finger-tips
compassion runs
into your pale body
that is so hurt
it is no more
than the keeper
of your being.
Behind these screens,
soldier,
we two are steeped
in a peace deeper
than life gives,
you with closed eyes
and I moving quietly
as though you could wake,
all my senses aware
that your other self
is here,
waiting to begin
life without end.
. . .
Jo Westren, the author of these exquisite poems,
was born in Essex, England, in 1914.
During World War II, she served as a nurse at Colchester Military Hospital.
. . . . .
Zócalo Poets 