Working In A Nursing Home

This one time
I stole prescription medications
From a terminally ill cancer patient
When I was working as a male nurse

I’d water down the morphine
And save it up
To get a full dose
Then stumble around
Doped up caring for elderly dopes
Rendered stupid with age
Wreaking of piss and shit

I didn’t have no regrets until this one day
When Old Man Hickums says to me
Jermaine... I hurt. I hurt so bad
And I wondered, is this the illness
Or the watered down morphine
Or some combination of the two?

To compensate I gave him an extra dose
I owed him that much
He had the biggest smile on his face
I think I helped him spiritually, prepare to meet the Lord
The pain was hindering his soul’s readiness
Distracted by death’s details
He could not go on his own accord
He was chained to his old ass body
And he’d never walk the golden streets of heaven
With all this pain on the brain

He went that night in his sleep
I think about him from time to time
Forever grateful of the way he made me a better person
I don’t even mind the piss and shit smell of old people no more
That’s just how they smell
But just because they smell like that
Doesn’t mean they can’t teach us something