By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

Over the years, we’ve published several poems submitted by readers who wanted to share their experiences living with pain or having a loved one who does.

One of my favorites was written by Connie Dyste Tucker, a family friend who died nearly a decade ago after a long battle with cancer. While undergoing chemotherapy, Connie found comfort and strength in one of nature’s most fragile and beautiful creatures -- hummingbirds – and wrote a poem about them. Here’s an excerpt:

“Hummingbirds”

I have one of my own,
a hummingbird, bright of feather,
light of wing. She fits into my day,
sipping my sugar, hardly hovering, always  
sparkling.

I can take my pain and put it in my pocket,
walk out the door and say to the scary world,
I am light of feather, swift of wing.  
I am not this sad heavy body,  

I am dreaming of birds, I can fly away from this.
I can sip sugar. I can eat my words.

Connie’s poem resonated with the staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, which is ranked as one of the world’s best pediatric hospitals.

The hospital recently opened a new pediatric pain ward to help children and their families cope with the many challenges of living with chronic pain. They call it their “Hummingbird Unit.”

I’m delighted to report that Connie’s poem is featured on a wall in the patient lounge of the new pain ward.

“I thought you might want to see what we have done with Connie’s poem and have included a picture to share,” Will Sadeghi, the ward’s project manager, wrote in an email.    

“The ward was recently opened to paediatric patients, who take part in a three-week pain management programme. All wards at Great Ormond Street Hospital are named after animals, and as you will see from the window graphic in one of the attached photos, we have tried to stay true to the Hummingbird theme.”

The origins of Great Ormond Street Hospital — known as GOSH in the UK — date back to 1852, when it became the first hospital in England to provide beds exclusively to children. Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens were among its earliest supporters, and later authors Roald Dahl and J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, became generous donors

GOSH was nationalized in 1948 and became part of the UK’s National Health Service. Princess Diana was president of the hospital from 1989 until her death.

Clearly, GOSH has a lot of history behind it. And now Connie and her poem are a part of it. She would be so proud.

“We stop at nothing to help give seriously ill children childhoods that are fuller, funner and longer,” GOSH’s charitable foundation says on its website. “Because we believe no childhood should be lost to illness.”