For those of us who have followed the horrific swath of death that Covid-19 has caused in our nation, we have also witnessed the tremendous, heroic outpouring of love and sacrifice that our medical heroes have demonstrated, often becoming infected by this deadly virus, and some dying from it. Among those medical heroes are the EMTs, the nurses, the nurses aides, the doctors, the maintenance crews, and the police who have responded to the desperate need of so many who have become infected.
I count among the number of these medical heroes, my daughters, Meg and Beth, who have selflessly given themselves to the care of so many who are vulnerable and ill.
I express my thanks to them and undying admiration and appreciation for all those who have sacrificed so much for those so desperately in need because of this pandemic.
Below is the music I composed based on a poem I also have written in great thanks to these great heroes of our time.
A NOCTURNE FOR OUR MEDICAL HEROES
Literature is filled
With narratives of
Individual and collective
Acts of heroism.
The shining armor
Of righteous knights,
the Robin Hoods’
Of world history,
Bandolier draped chests,
Fighting a heartless
World that preys
Upon the powerless
Trapped in poverty.
We search the horizon
For visions of soldiers
Bravely raising a flag
On an embattled hill.
We seek for leadership
In an absentee government,
To find only a vapid vacuum
Of intelligence, draped
In self-indulgence.
and corruption,
spreading as easily
and as deadly,
as the pestilence that
is killing humanity.
“Where are our heroes?”
Where is the new Moses
To rise among us,
To protect and lead
Us from our wandering
In this desert of death.
One, for whom the good
Of the many out weighs
Personal ambition
And self-gain?
To whom can we
Entrust our lives,
And the lives
Of those we love?
Rescuers arrive,
Draped in the soft cloth
Of medical scrubs,
EMT uniforms,
Armed only with
Bandoliers of compassion,
Love, and self-less service
And a stethoscope,
A mask and face shield.
Their hearts emblazoned
With the words,
“There is no greater love
Than to lay down
One’s life for a friend,”
(c) 2020 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.
