”I Am A Physician”

I am a physician.
I am an artist.
I cure with quality and compassion.
I cannot be measured with a slide rule,
For I am greater than the sum of my parts.

I am an artist,
A synthesizer of science,
Of symptoms and secrets of the soul,
Who spent the birthright of my youth
studying books and bones,
My life to preserve that of others,
Forging diagnoses
From the metal of my mind
To build hope,
Furnish solace,
Find a cure.

I am a physician.
I am a poet
Who weaves tapestries of words
To allay anxieties and furnish understanding,
To urge compliance -
The use of my salves, balms,
Pills and potions.

I am a painter,
An appreciator of art
For whom a rash -
Spots, scale and putrefaction -
Is transformed into a host of possibilities:
Impressions of Chagall, Matisse, Renoir,
Which become refined,
Defined,
A diagnosis.

I am a physician
Who has left politics
To the Politicians
Until now
But I find that
The usual purveyors of
Their stock in trade
Are bankrupt,
Have sold out
And are tearing my canvas,
Making dissonant my symphony,
Garbling my verse
In terse harsh sentences
They call LAW

I am a physician.
I will try to make it whole
Again.