Nosebleed

By Carrie E. Joslin

When I had the nosebleed
It struck me like a blow.

The first thing that I knew
I didn’t know where to go.

I started for the bathroom
Some water for to find.

My nose was bleeding so badly
I couldn’t collect my mind.

At last I grabbed a towel
A wash cloth and a dress.

I stuffed the towel beneath my nose
And tightly hugged the rest.

The blood was running freely
O’er my mouth and chin--

And as it crossed my lips
A lot of it ran in.

It stained my face and hands,
It left my neck aglow.

I tho’t I looked just like a clown
Dressing for a show.

I swallowed blood against my will
And sick and sicker grew.

Instead of just one stomach
I felt that I had two.

I called the Doctor and he came,
A neighbor came in, too.

I bravely tried to do the things
They each told me to do.

The doctor took my pulse
And my blood pressure, too.

He listened to my heart and said,
“Now this will never do.”

He gave to me a purple pill,
A robin-egg blue one too.

And then he said, “Be very quiet,
That’s one thing you must do.”

The news, it spread and people came
And lent their service kind.

But a remedy for nose-bleed
They vainly tried to find.

They put a cold cloth on my neck
Another on my head.

They put a pill beneath my tongue
And they put me to bed.

My head it ached; my ears they rang
And still the blood, it flowed.

My energy and strength went down
Like grass that had been mowed!

I left my bed and had a stroke
I scared them all, they said.

Then Billy kindly picked me up
And put me back in bed.

The doctor came a second time
And quite upset was he.

He listened to my heart and said,
“Here, this will never do.”

“This hemorrhaging must stop at once-
The color has left your lips,

Your pulse is weak.” And then he said,
“Look at your finger tips.”

The poor man seemed so nervous
A frown was on his mug

He shook his head and then he said,
“Your nose I’ll have to plug.”

The neighbors gathered round my bed
Like waiting for a show.

They all agreed they’d never seen
A doctor plug a nose!

I closed my eyes and raised my head,
My bloody brow I mopped-

And then I heard sweet Opal say,
“Oh, look! That flow has stopped!”

© Carrie E. Joslin