Another Code Blue

I saw the dead and dying firsthand, Gloved hands reached out to pale shaking ones. Tired lungs rattled a rapid tune of death. I wiped down ashen skin, bone dry without a drop of moisture left. Talked to the families through closed windows and phone screens, Told them that their loved ones were fighting. We were told masks were optional, (I got sick in April) Let me tell you that the vaccine is not. Spare yourself months on a ventilator in a coma, If you're lucky you'd make it to a painful year of PT. Spare a family the last visit as their loved one drowns, I still hear their mask-muffled cries in my dreams. Yes it hurts, yes you get sick, yes it's new, But please don't be another code blue