Blest be the woman in white

I lie and wait for her

Who holds my hand to feel my heart beat

And takes my temperature

In the hum of the I.C.U.

Amid the machines she stands

Amid all the technology I feel

The laying on of hands

She asks me how I feel

I tell her, "Much better today."

Now that the tube is out of my throat

And the catheter's gone away.

She comes from a town near here

Her children Nate and Nicole

Are 14 and 16 and do well in school

And her husband's on the highway patrol.

I came here for heart surgery

To repair my right atrium

And now we're discussing the weather forecast

They say there is more snow to come.

My life has been handed to me

And what is so dear to my heart

Is the plain ordinary sound of her voice

And the oatmeal on the food cart.

The mystery of life is here

Of life and death and man

And also the sweet simplicity

Of an angel named Joanne.

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.