Touch: The Journal of Healing

 
























































 

Hope

    by Jordan Grumet


The doctor said

ten years ago

it’s pressure

and salt

and exercise

and medication

there is something we can do


The doctor said

five years ago

it’s sugar

and education

and diet

and weight loss

there is something we can do


The doctor said

a week ago

it’s a cough

and antibiotics

and x-rays

and rest

there is something we can do


The doctor said

a moment ago

it’s cancer

and spreading

and incurable

and hospice

unexpectedly

reaching across the table to hold my hand

even now he says


There is something we can do…..






© 2011 Jordan Grumet






Jordan Grumet is an internal medicine physician and assistant professor at the University of Chicago.  His poetry has appeared in The Annals of Internal Medicine, The Journal of General Internal Medicine, and The Pharos.

Copyright © 2011

Touch: The Journal of Healing

All rights reserved.