Looking Back

[Stephen Whiteside]

I've written this for publication in a medical journal, but I thought I would post it here also.

Looking Back

Oh, what a glorious romp it has been, diversity, challenge and scope,
Trying to offer what Medicine gives, and maybe a measure of hope;
Often no more than a listening ear, an empathic frown, or a smile,
Trying to do what I know must be done, and perhaps walk an extra half mile.

I've worked in the suburbs - the north and the south, the centre, the east and the west,
For people are people - the rich and the poor; I've worked with the cursed and the blessed.
I've argued with junkies (and usually lost), and learned not to argue at all,
And tried to avoid being hurt on the fringe when they've ended up dropping the ball.

I've listened to Kooris in lock-ups and prisons, perhaps just a stone's throw away
From well content people with houses and jobs who work in the sun, making hay.
I've seen men in cages claw madly like monkeys, their eyes almost bursting with fright,
Begging for something to help them survive another long, pitiless night,

And all this in Melbourne, the crown of the south, with its coffee, and poetry scene;
The civilised hub of urbanity's peak, with its parks and its gardens so green;
Rough concrete shelters, so much worse than prisons, often for weeks without end,
In places designed for a few days at most - no wonder they go round the bend.

Who but a doctor would see scenes like this? Police, of course. Maybe a priest.
Perhaps the odd youth worker witnesses also this vision of man as a beast.
Not many others, I'd wager on that. Not many others at all.
It's a horrible spectacle bound to confound, to sicken, disgust and appal,

And yet I feel privileged I've had a chance to see how the world really works.
It's only a little way under the skin the beast in humanity lurks.
My career in Medicine's not changed the world, and that is the way it must be,
But the places I've been, and the people I've met on the way, they have surely changed me.

Stephen Whiteside 17.01.3013

[Heather]

Love the poem, and the message Stephen.

Heather

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Heather.

[Neville Briggs]

Well done Stephen. I've seen it all too, only it was in Sydney and Bourke, and I didn't have any medicine to offer them.

[Stephen Whiteside]

I didn't have any medicine to offer them either, Neville.

[Heather]

I bet you both offered kindness though and that goes a long way....

[r.magnay]

A good poem Doc, when we look back it is quite amazing just what we see isn't it! I guess it all depends on what we do for a quid, what we get to see.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Ross. True enough.

[Zondrae]

G'day Stephan,
Very thought provoking. Well written and giving me lots to think about. I like to see some serious pieces now and again to balance out all the wacky stuff.

Ross, Good to see you popping up on this site. Now if we could just get Bernard to come over from the dark side, I'd be a happy lady.

[Vic Jefferies]

Brilliant poem Stephen. " We all live(well most of us) in our own little cocoons safe from reality for most of the time unaware of what life is really like when the facade is stripped away.
Doctors, nurses, health workers, policemen and a very few others deal with the reality of life everyday and yet manage to carry on.
"And yet I feel privileged I've had a chance to see how the world really works."
Well done and thank you.