A cardiac arrest. A resuscitation made. A life recovered.
One patient tells me his experience.
This is his story.
•
Death.
Amid the chaos enclosing,
beseeched by an ambiance of ages to come,
I hear the seraph’s dulcet calls.
Immured by words
divine and bittersweet,
they sculpt the frigid air,
and I am comforted.
As flesh is pierced, poisons forced,
I am held in tender embrace–
its whispers an oasis to the fears
that boil within my breast.
A skyward calling, its promised hope
glistens the starlight above me.
Memories, regret, longings and dreams–
a cycle ripened to revolve anew
cascades within my being.
I then behold a fleeting sight–
a son, wife, a father, my life–
their love commanding,
gazes imploring.
Therefore
with a strength untold
I fight
until with the sun
I am ushered
out of the grasp
of the ebbing eve.
I open my eyes.
• • •
◊ The Cardiac Arrest – A Physician’s Perspective ◊
• • •
Categories: All Poetry, Death & Loss, Medical Poetry, Medicine, Poetry by Phoebe
Well-written piece! Powerful!
Beautiful poetry. I love your images that float around the patient.
Beautifully delivered… a gripping experience, Phoebe! 🙂
This is a beautiful piece, very powerful too. I have had a close experience too and I think the cross over is not that bad. I am not scared of death anymore, I guess the only scary part for me is rush of thoughts of what could have been and loved one to leave behind.
Wow Amity…I can just imagine what you went through…
Oh well! I am glad i’m still here.
Me too! 😀
This is terrific, Phoebe, and I find it terrifically comforting to read. I’ve always been interested in near-death experiences and the story you tell here, in your excellent poetry, is so interesting and seems so to be consistent with other near-deaths I’ve read about. Wouldn’t that be something if someday our scientists or researchers could discover solidly what death actually is like as an experience, to know it beforehand, without having to go through it? I used to tell my students the greatest mystery, and therefore the one most written about, is death. No one knows it until it comes, and then you do it mostly alone. Thanks for writing this. And what great art!!!
Thank you, D.S. Yes, hearing about this person’s experience was also very comforting to me. And it would indeed be something amazing if we made advances in science to that point… 🙂
Wishing you a blessed day, phoebe
Glad this person is still around to share his experience, Phoebe — it must have been “meant to be.” And yes, here’s hoping someday we figure out that great mystery. You, too, have a great day … And btw: thanks for being a great, caring doctor. 🙂