Flighted wings spread wide,
Snapping on the downstroke,
Moving air, giving lift.

Scouring the land below,
Hunting hidden prey beneath,
Unaware it is being sought.

Heart pounding hard,
Rushing dive,
Crushing blow.

And so life cycles,
Eat or be eaten,
Live or die.

Thinking deeply after dark,
Wondering when I will hear the owl
Call quietly into the night.

Cold winter's grip holds so tight.
Snow showers down from arctic breeze.
And chills the soul among the trees.

Silence reigns here in the deep,
Hours pass without a sound
To give away the life force here.

Then achingly soulful, deep and round,
The howling of the wolves from far north,
Waft down this lonely valley wall.

Peace of night shattered now,
Nature's children give voice,
To lonely coldness of this frozen land.

**** paperwork,
Makes my brain hurt.

I do the work.
I assess and eval.

I take the vitals.
I provide care.
I ask the questions.
Implement the orders.

I give support.
And what does it matter?

It doesn't.

According to the powers that be.
My paperwork isn't up to *****.

The patients don't matter,
didn't you know.
They don't need those
meds that help them think,
help them cope.
They don't deserve a hug.
They don't deserve attention.

If they miss their appointment
they need not have another.
They blew their chance.

All they want is a magic pill.
News for you, they know there is no such thing.
Would they live the hell they live day to day,
If there was such a thing?

Instead of tolerance and caring for our fellow humans.
Let's put first our stacks of paper and red tape.

Instead of lifting our fellow humans up,
Let's watch them struggle and then turn an uncaring eye.

I don't understand where or when it became so important
to write, instead of to do, or to give, or to care.

Where was I when the memo went out?
Just write it down, let them deal on their own.

Regardless of the fact, that it's within our scope,
To teach, to listen, to care, to support.

Decisions made, past deeds done,
diseases and habits, magnifying human weaknesses.

Make these people no worse than anyone of us,
Only in greater need.

And while watching their struggles, more than once,
I say to myself, "There but for the grace of God, go I."