The meanest man that I never knew
From the day I walked on the floor,
all of the staff warned me about you.
They said you were a mean old man,
it's best to always enter the room with two.
He is grouchy, and hateful, and always a mess,
he refuses to let you change him,
and gets quite ugly when you have to force him to.
he always has chew in his mouth, be careful they said,
he will even spit at you.
I walked in and introduced myself,
my name is Sarah and I'm new here,
it's nice to meet you.
he ignored my hand and grunted as a response,
I smiled and said, I'll be back to check on you.
My first night, he grumbled at first,
we got the lift and changed the meanest man I never knew.
we stuck to the routine for a short while,
when at three a.m. and making some rounds,
I hear a man yell, hey, so I stopped and turned around.
I walked into his room, all alone,
he looked at me warily, and said I'm ready to be changed.
I couldn't help but smile at him,
the meanest man I never knew,
progress is progress,
and he was beginning to trust me too.
I asked the others, what his story was,
they proceded to tell me of his past
some spoke with disdain as they tarnished his reputation,
no stone is ever left unturned in a small town population.
Our routine continued at three a.m. and then at six,
before I realized it, he allowed me to tend to him every two hours.at the least,
and most days he even greets me with a smile and seems happy to see me.
As time went on I noticed a pattern,
the girls would give me report, and say with a smile,
that the meanest man I never knew,
refused to let them give him care
and said he is waiting for you.
Covid came in the building and as it swept through,
it got ahold of him and then me too.
we were short staffed and there was no one left to call,
so they allowed me to come in and stay only with the positive patients to work.
That night we made a pitiful pair, but I held his hand, and gave him a pep talk,
I told him we were in this together and we had to fight our way through,
he squeezed my hand, and said, I don't feel good, but I'll fight with you.
it was touch and go for awhile, I really didn't think he would make it,
but, true to his word, he fought his way through,
this meanest man that I never knew.
time had passed and he never was quite the same
and over the next several months, he slowly began to deteriorate.
he became very clingy and held my hand when he talked,
he often pulled me in for hugs
he even told me he loved me once.
his time was drawing near, the signs were plain to see,
the meanest man I never knew
was Tired and in pain
he was ready to go but afraid at the same time
he had no family left, he was all alone.
I came back to work after my days off,
the Girls said he was still hanging on
and that they thought he was waiting for me.
I made my rounds and sat with him in between
I held his hand for the last time
as the meanest man I never knew
took his last breath with his hand in mine.
