In 1913 Rachel Blustein wrote her famous poem, “The Hospital.” She had tuberculosis, and hospitals were primitive. When I share this poem with my patients now, they feel that she is shining a light on their odyssey into another world:

The Hospital

Rachel Blustein

An island inhabited by strange beings

In uniforms . . .

An island forgotten from God’s heart’s seeing

Forever on and on.

Their time is different from time’s passage

in other places.

One hour in here, is a hundred and twenty minutes passing

At the very least, this pace.

And if you try to speak in their ears

Of other lives that could be found,

They will laugh bitterly and say in their heart with tears:

“That’s the imagination of those who are safe and sound.”