Are You An Angel

I was nursing in long term care where I worked in the palliative care unit and of course saw many deaths. Sometimes the nurses were the only ones there to be with these elderly souls as they took their last breaths. I recall all of them but there is one in particular that haunts me still but in a good way. I was working the night shift and this lady was close to death. I went to check her and as I was, she opened her eyes and they were bright and happy. She smiled at me and whispered, are you an angel come to bring me to heaven? No, I replied, I am your nurse. She reached up and touched my blonde hair and told me that I had a halo over my head. Perhaps it was the light from the hall or her poor eyesight, I will never know. She was a sweet person who loved to wear her pearls that her husband had given her on their wedding day. She was smiling and told me they were dancing. And when I tried to leave she said don't, please stay with me, so I did. We did not say much, but touched each other, she touched my face saying angel over and over and then, quietly she gasped only once and she was gone. I never forgot that experience. Maybe, God did give me a halo that night to help this soul pass into heaven. I think he did. _________________ July 7, 2021 Poetry/Narrative/Are You An Angel Copyright Protected 07-1369-548-07 All Rights Reserved, 2021, Constance La France Written for the Standard contest, The Last Dance sponsor, Craig Cornish, Judged 07/16/2021 Seventh Place