Irish nurse Rebecca Elliot has penned a touching and heartbreaking poem chronicling her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rebecca Elliot, 23, from County Meath, is a nurse at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth who contracted COVID-19 while working on the frontlines against the virus.
The young nurse only graduated 18 months ago and had to go into self-isolation and distance herself from her family after she tested positive for COVID-19.
Her touching poem documents the trauma of not seeing her family after she was diagnosed with the coronavirus and also deals with how healthcare workers have to hold the hands of dying loved ones cut adrift from their families.
Her poem was posted in the Support for Nurses, Midwives and Frontline Staff in Ireland Facebook group on Tuesday and the post has been liked more than 2,000 times.
The poem concludes on an endlessly hopeful note as the young nurse promises to "kick COVID's ass."
Read more: Beautiful poem for the departed adapted by Irish monks
You can read Rebecca Elliot's touching poem in full below:
It’s 7am and as I put on my scrubs,
I worry about lives,
Yet some worry about pubs...
Will they reopen,
Or will they stay closed?
I fight on the frontline,
No doubt I’m exposed
To a monster so deadly,
Like a sniper at war,
Killing thousands a day,
It’s hard to ignore.
We put on our armour
To look after our patients
Fighting for breath,
No exaggeration.
I hold your grannies hand,
Her lips turning blue,
As She looks up into my face,
Masked by goggles and an FFP2.
Her life has come to an end,
It’s the last breath she’s taken,
Covid... the cause of a sleep to which she will never awaken.
On the phone I tell her daughter,
“Mams life has come to an end”
Now time to plan a funeral,
To which only 10 can attend
A tickle in my throat,
A pain in my head,
3 weeks later,
I’m confined to my bed.
My phone lights up,
Ringing and ringing...
A strangers voice on the line,
“Is this Miss Elliott?”
“Yes, speaking?”
I was given the news,
Somewhat unexpected...
The swab result came back,
With “Covid detected”
Now my family must distance,
At least 2 meters away.
So to keep them all safe,
Locked in room, I must stay.
But I am not the first,
And I won’t be the last...
But one thing is for sure..
I will kick Covid’s ass.
Read more: Priest in Ireland pens touching poem about coronavirus lockdown
Comments