A Poet Out of Place
This week on Mosaic, we’re sharing stories from chaplains in our community. Their experiences offer a window into a unique kind of ministry, and we think there’s something for all of us in the words they have to share.
Nell* had a lot of miles on her. Years of poverty and living on the streets had taken their toll. Her skin was wrinkled and tanned from exposure to the elements. Her gray hair was unkempt. Almost all of her teeth were missing. Thin and crone-like, her slight body was almost swallowed up by the sheets of her hospital bed. She was, of course, a “charity case,” impoverished and without insurance, whose treatment costs would be absorbed by the hospital.
What struck me most about Nell, however, was not her poverty, but her grace and dignity. Her eyes, though weakened by age, sparkled with intelligence. Her toothless smile projected warmth and acceptance. As we visited, and as she shared her story with me, I found my stereotypes of homeless people challenged. There wasn’t a hint of victimhood in her demeanor, and she didn’t ask me for a thing. We just visited, like regular people do.
As our conversation progressed, and trust took root, she revealed that one of her passions was to write poetry. She recited from memory several poems she had written over the years, some of them quite good. As she recited her poems, we were both transported from her drab four-to-a-room hospital room to more pleasant places – the farm where she grew up, a garden she especially loved, a house she used to live in. And through her poems I met some of the people in her life – her beloved daddy, gone now for decades; a sister; a dog; a friend or two; and God, who was with her always. Her poetry was not literary, but it was eloquent in its authenticity, its trueness to her life as she had lived it.
Nell and I spent perhaps twenty minutes together, and I have not seen her since. Nevertheless, the memory of her dignity and faith, her poetic gift, and the gracious way she received me, remains with me. I am thankful that God brought us together for a visit that blessed us both.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
