This poem, written several years ago as an internal medicine resident before joining the faculty as an assistant professor of medicine, expresses the feelings associated with unsuccessful CPR from the perspective of the person performing it.

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Yesterday:
Her heart stopped
His breath ceased

He struggled. She struggled. I struggled

With arms
    and chest
        and back
            and belly
               and brain

With every part of me
I struggled

To press life back
      Into what was
To make it what is
Even though — I know — life is gone

To bring back that
Breath
      and beat
            and force

To feel a pressure fight against my hand

He struggled. She struggled. I struggled.
And then I stopped

And I knew
      That today would begin without them
      But that I would remember

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Today:
      I feel each breath I take
            against my ribs

                             It aches

      Each reach
            and bend
                  and twist
                        and pull

                              It aches

My body knows what it did yesterday
                   And it aches
      My heart remembers more

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My body aches

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My heart is sore