.png)
by Erin R., Brilliant Contributor, The Brilliant Foundation
In this series, we look towards the young – teenagers who have written a narrative poem of an individual from herstory (history). From our youngest contributor, Erin, 13 years of age has chosen Florence Nightingale as her inspiration.
Florence Nightingale is remembered as the lamp-carrying nurse who, during the Crimean War, would check on each soldier during the night. After the war, she spent the rest of her life writing about how to improve patient care and used infographics to get her point across.
Here I am
Watching, waiting, listening
Feeling sorrow for the fallen men in battle
Whispering their last words
Smelling rotting bodies seized the air
A shriek of pain, then silence
Distraught nurses hurrying around the ward
Muttering silently
Florence Nightingale at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari (Üsküdar), writing letters for wounded soldiers of the Crimean War, 1855.
Another soldier gone
Slaughtered like livestock
Killed for no purpose
Died for nothing
Watching men sacrificing themselves for their country
Knowing in the end they are pawns in one big game
Countless lives are squandered
Lost for greed, spoils and victory
I am only a young Lady, what can I do?
Facing these once magnificent bodies
Writhing in agony, butchered and torn
Lifeless in this Hell, clinging on to Hope
Money, wealth, jewels
Social expectations I cannot meet
Serving my family for the wrong purpose
Treating me like a doll
My Mother, hailed from a family of merchants
My Father, a wealthy landowner inherited two estates
Both hungry for money and worldly possessions
A masquerade of privilege
Considered beautiful with my delicate features
Fair skinned with piercing blue eyes framed by my thin eyebrows
Dark long auburn hair with a reddish tint
Made me perfect to expand our family riches
Raised in classical education
To become the Lady my parents shaped me to be
Resisting, rebelling within
This life is not for me
I am 16 years old
Ministering to the ill and poor
Knowing that helping is my divine purpose
Knowing that I am a nurse, not an instrument of my parents
My parents forbid my desires, they casted away my dreams
For a woman in the Victorian Era with status
I am not allowed to have an occupation
Destined to be betrothed to another
A year past, I was surprised with a burden
Richard Monckton Milnes proposed
I turned him down
I am too young, I have my own dreams to pursue
Despite my parents’ mandate, I left
A calling from God came soon after
Telling me to serve my people, heeding my voice
I become His servant
Florence Nightingale in Scutari Hospital Istanbul, Turkey. | Nightingale became famous after she and a small team of nurses traveled to modern-day Istanbul to treat British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War, in which British, French and Ottoman forces fought the Russian Empire. Image Credit: Reuters
I am standing here aghast, quivering and trembling
Seeing red - blood, sweat and tears
Smelling the stench of rotting flesh
Feeling unimagined horror, Life turned upside down
My aching heart breaks, I can bear no more
Seeing souls drift away, I cry in silence
While I carry my lamp in my hand, I’m like a firefly dancing in the night
Bringing solace to the injured soldiers, applying ointment to their lesions
Florence! They cry my name, men brought to their knees
I am here, quiet by their side with my Light
Working gently to tend their wounds,
Gazing into their flickering eyes tenderly
Years pass on, yet these senseless battles continue
Accustomed to the broken spirits
In Faith, I care
Praying to Heaven
That they become Angels
My life’s work is done, 90 years on Earth
Fulfilling God’s calling and His crusade
Walking towards His Light,
I return to Him
Resting with my army of soldiers in Paradise.
-END-
copyright@The Brilliant Foundation
This is an image of Florence Nightingale in 1870
Florence Nightingale (born May 12, 1820, Florence [Italy]—died August 13, 1910, London, England) was a British nurse, statistician, and social reformer who was the foundational philosopher of modern nursing.
Nightingale was put in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War. She spent many hours in the wards, and her night rounds giving personal care to the wounded established her image as the “Lady with the Lamp.”
Her efforts to formalize nursing education led her to establish the first scientifically based nursing school—the Nightingale School of Nursing, at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London (opened 1860).
She also was instrumental in setting up training for midwives and nurses in workhouse infirmaries. She was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit (1907). International Nurses Day, observed annually on May 12, commemorates her birth and celebrates the important role of nurses in health care.
International Nurses' Day (IND) is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth.