5. Seven Sons - 3. Doctor

Seven Sons

An epic poem in 7 parts with Prologue and Epilogue

3. Doctor

The father’s third son whose name was Valentine
From earliest years liked to watch Nature’s wonders.
He knew that biology would be his line,
And nothing could ever keep his wishes under.

Being a small boy, often Val breathed the air,
The fresh air that was in a beautiful forest.
He would go outside and enjoy being there
Where animals could tell him different stories.

By means of a lancet and pincers he had
Val used to explore some live wonders of Nature.
He was very keen, played at surg’ry like mad,
And anatomized lots of defenseless creatures.

Val wanted to learn how they all looked inside,
And that longing of his was always prevailing.
He hoped he some day would be his father’s pride,
Without a reflection that there could be failing.

Years passed very quickly for our little boy
Who’d made up his mind to become a good surgeon,
And then came the time to forget about toys:
To realizing his great dreams Val was verging.

After leaving school with an exc’llent result,
He wanted to enter a prestigious college.
No more a small boy but already adult,
Val learned the whole wisdom of medical knowledge.

And every professor liked this curious guy,
For he never fainted away or grew pallid.
No dreadful appearance of those who had died,
No post-mortem awed him, his health being valid.

It’s no wonder that Valentine got a first
And graduated as a hopeful physician.
He could not imagine that there was a curse
That lay on his family’s lofty ambitions.

Val never reflected upon such a thing.
He felt he was ready to settle to practice
To alleviate his patients’ suffering.
In doctoring he always did himself justice.

It was not a boy anymore who would like
To cut helpless animals with a sharp lancet,
It was not a boy anymore who would hike
About diff’rent forests which could catch his fancy.

Val wanted to help people visiting him
By means of performing diverse operations,
And he knew his job, and was always in trim,
And entered into many friendly relations.

Val listened and heard any sufferer’s call:
Who’d been sad before, afterwards did turn sunny.
That did not cost much, sometimes nothing at all,
If there was a person who was out of money.

But people who were thankful could not leave Val
Without open-heartedly giving him presents,
And that became soon a kind of ritual
Which took place at all times, during the four seasons.

What else could our doctor expect from those men
In case he had saved someone’s father or mother?
They called him Almighty again and again,
Though Valentine surely could not walk on water.

Once he operated an elderly male
Whose daughter came to see her dad very often,
And Val fell in love with that beautiful gal,
And later he made her a definite offer.

Yes, he married Daisy, for she loved him too,
But they did not live happily ever after.
They hoped all their fine dreams would sometime come true,
But they never heard Satan’s wild roaring laughter.

She’d the same disease that her father had had,
But hers was, by far, a more serious condition.
Val could not save her like he had saved her dad,
No matter how strong and sincere was his wishing.

Of course, he tried, but she died under the knife.
He made all attempts not to cry and be stronger,
But after the death of his beloved wife,
What was left for him in this world to live longer?

Not wanting to work, Val fell into despair.
He ceased to receive both his friends and his patients.
Face in tears, into vacancy would he stare,
And no one could drive him out of that depression.

He knew he would not live without his dear wife,
And he never cared for what people would comment.
Determined at last to take fast his own life,
He drank a strong poison and died in a moment.

15–30.11.99