Military Nurse: The Hands That Stayed

A military nurse is there near the front lines, working tirelessly on the injured and the dying. They are the hands that stayed.

Rime Couée Poetry is a traditional French verse form known for its measured rhythm and reflective cadence. Its structure, with shorter echoing lines woven between longer ones, creates a sense of pause and return, much like memory itself. In this piece, that rhythm carries the voice of a wartime Army nurse—one who served not on the front lines of battle, but in its immediate shadow. Through her words, we glimpse both the duty that steadied her hands and the memories that never quite let them rest.

Rime Couée Poetry is usually four or five stanzas long. Each stanza has six lines with an AAbCCb cadence. The A and C lines are each eight syllables long, and the b line has six. Try your hand at writing a Rime Couée Poem.