Joanna Nissel

The Love Song of the NHS Receptionist

After The Love Song of Shu-Sin, one of the earliest recorded poems. Translated by Samuel Noah Kramer

Saviour, relief of my heart, welcome are your efforts, unrelenting.
Egret, relief of my heart, welcome are your efforts, unrelenting.
You have held me; let me wilt once more. Saviour, I would be restless
and thrashing in the waiting room. But you have held me; let me wilt
once more. Egret, I find no rest in the pale blue of the waiting room.
Saviour, let me forgo the need to apologise again. My precious needs
are known to you, by the front desk, familiar. Let me find relief
in your unrelenting efforts, Egret, let me forgo pride. My needs
are already known. Saviour, you have given me permission.
Tell my mother—she will give you back the hours in the day.
My father will give you stewed apples and pastry. Your spirit, I know
its spine-weary song. Saviour, I am listening to your sigh at the end
of the recorded message. Your heart, I know, is taut with caffeine.
Egret, I am listening to your sigh. You, because you find appointments
where there are none, I give you all the smiles I have left.
My comfort, my gentle eye, my protector who soothes my breath,
give me your name. Your name, welcome as smiles, place it
on the counter. Place it proudly on the laminate like a dedication.
Place it for all the gentle and unrelenting eyes.

A Brighton-based poet, Joanna Nissel’s debut pamphlet, Guerrilla Brightenings, was published with Against the Grain press, and she was the runner up for the Poetry Business 2018 International New Poets Prize. She is completing a PhD at the University of Southampton in ‘Mentoring in the Contemporary UK Poetry Ecology’.