a doctor's life.

got the idea of this poem, on the day of my pathology practical, when I woke up at 4 in the morning…. with just 3hrs o’ sleep and an exam to give. This may seem to some as very absurd….. But then my life is full of absurdities…anyways I carried this thought for three days before jotting this down ( I wanted to write it there and then but, my sanity center showed it’s worth ,reminding me to study and & I did pass my exam. )


A DOCTOR’S LIFE


Bleary eyed,
Sleep deprived,
I was jolted to wakefulness by this sudden thought,
WHAT is a DOCTOR’S LIFE???

And I sat musing in silent darkness,
between the end o’ another night,
And beginning of another new day…. of my medical college life.

In answer my exam wrecked tired mind replied …..
An endless train of exam
fuel of which is
Our tired midnight oil burning minds,
Our distraught emotions at the announcement o’ each semester exam,
And our joy at the end o’ the prof result,
Our tired and relentlessly burning eyes
And stolen ounces of our precious sleep.

While the thought sat,
Making the existing hole in my mind bigger still….
I thought it was true…..
A doctor’s life is one big chain o’ exams
It begins with entrance exams, moves on to semester exam
Adding icing to the cake are fortnightly ward leavings
And the cream is the end o’ the year university exams……..

At the end of four prof’s,
we walk out armed with
The license to HEAL.
But this but the mere beginning
Of the real big test…which continues till
Our soul goes to rest.

 The test o’ treating patients...our GOD’S
O’ healing their body, hearts and minds.
This is one exam where we are permitted no failure
No incompetence
No second chance
placing us on the same pedestal as GOD'S…..
but unlike GOD we are permitted no mistakes.

And so said my tiny heart ,
this is what these exams are for…
To get u ready for the real test ahead.
And then I remembered….
a beautiful line I had once read…

“ The most sacred thing I do is care “
And remembering this , my heart rejoiced.

“The most sacred thing I do is care “
The ultimate truth,
The solemn oath,
the true joy... of a doctor’s life.
But this is what,
We sometimes fail to understand,
The colleges sometimes fail to preach
That studies sometimes fail to teach
That we knowingly at times forget

“The most sacred thing I do is care”
this is what our GOD’S (patients) fail to understand….
That yes we are doctors
That yes we have the greatest duty….
The greatest responsibility
That yes, this was our choice.
But we are human beings too….
All we want is that u understand us too
Like u want us to understand u..

This is what.... is a doctor’s life.
An oath we cannot break…..
A touch to try and end thy suffering
A touch to decrease thy pain
A touch to heal..
A duty to care…
                          It is our strength….
                          It is our joy….
                          It is our ultimate desire…
                          It is our supreme prayer….
                                         Our duty to care,
                                          Our duty to care.

PS-…..ward leavings are test that we have to give at the end o’ every clinical posting in the wards.
….and we have semester exams every two months or so…
and at the end o’ each year we have final university exams …which are called a profs.
Also I read….” The most sacred thing I do is care”on the profile of one o’ my friend & in a medical text book, which I can't recall at the moment….and it just came into my mind while thinking that morning.