Angels in our Hour of Need

A beautiful nurse called Emmanuel
wheeled my love away
“God is With Us”
so declared his mother or
perhaps the father
of Emmanuel-whoever named him
this cheerful young man
God in green scrubs and nitrile gloves

And with a surgeon named Magdalena
meaning great and strong
I know we are in not just good- but great- hands
and we are seen with such kind eyes

As for myself, I try to be a stalwart care-giver
to keep track of meds, glasses of water, juice, broth
I scold, cajole, and cheer the burps which emerge 

from his cracked and opened body

But yesterday in the waiting room
before Emmanuel flew in
& Saint Magdalena wielded her scalpel
for hours on end
I say, ‘remember to breathe like a sniper settling shaky hands’
‘In for five, hold for five, out for five’
 

And there we sat side by side
at some ungodly hour before the dawn
practicing our box breathing
like a pair of Navy Seals