She Chose the Night Shift

She Chose the Night Shift

Hospital lot at quarter to seven
White shoes on the front passenger floor
I had a lease two states over
And one suitcase by the door
I said, Come with me by Friday
She looked down at her badge
Said, I finally got the night shift
I can't walk away from that

I heard rejection
She meant a calling

She chose the night shift, I drove away
She chose the night shift, I called it leaving me that day
I thought love should make her leave the thing she fought to be
She chose the night shift, I had not learned to see

She Chose the Night Shift

Three months later winter morning
I came back for my brother's scan
Saw her running down the hallway
Holding pressure with both hands
Twelve hours deep, hair coming loose
Still calm enough to make him breathe
Finally I saw the woman
I had been asking her to leave

Those white nursing shoes were still by the floor mat
Same badge, same tired eyes I used to blame
She wasn't choosing work over me
She was choosing who she had to be

She chose the night shift, I stayed this time
She chose the night shift, and I quit drawing that old line
Love got better when I stopped asking her to shrink for me
She chose the night shift, I chose the whole of who she'd be

She Chose the Night Shift

She Chose the Night Shift