“The Craven” a Poem by Dr. David Kolowski
Written in the rhyme scheme of Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven.”
Once upon a midnight wired, as I lay there sick and tired
Over many a half-filled bottles of prescriptions on the floor.
While I ached to just be dreaming, holding back a muffled screaming
My cell phone started gleaming from someone at my door.
“Tis some animal,” I muttered, “walking past my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more.”
Ah, how clearly I recall my health and youth before the fall
Thinking I had done it all to avoid what was in store.
Eagerly I took the potions, trusting all my doctor’s notions
Went through all the medical motions to be now sicker than before
Spent all my cash on useless drugs now strewn across the floor
Holding hope for just one more.
A knocking on my door had started, the visitor had not departed
Pounding just like my heart did beyond my chamber door
Presently I fought the aching caused by piles of pills I’m taking
With great effort, making my way across the floor
Thinking it just Amazon or food from the store
That it is, and nothing more.
Presently I felt a straining, like my heart within complaining
Knowing I was not maintaining the health I had before.
Starting with a couple pills, promised to address my ills
Trusting doctors have the skills to cover what was sore
Somehow knowing another pill would always lead to more
Now piled on the floor.
Faintly, I pulled back the handle, jumping like a flame on candle
At the sight that stood before me just beyond my door.
All those fears within me feeling on my face for sure revealing
As my doctor stepping, stealing his way across my floor.
With pen and paper always handy, at the ready for his chore
As he uttered, “Want some more?”
Surely I thought him joking, wondering what he’d been smoking
Had he not seen the piles of rotted ghosts upon the floor?
Smugly staring like a cancer at my soul with just one answer
Writing nimbly as a dancer on his slip just as before.
Now all the rage within me brewing, standing by my door
“Leave me now I must implore.”
The floor beneath his weight was creaking, sharing in my bold critiquing,
Yet to the deaf we were speaking more loudly than before.
“Help me by some other measure, in turn return my earthy pleasure
I am wanting, weigh and measure me as plainly as before.
Take thy pills from out my mouth and help my health restore!”
Quoth the doctor, “Want some more?”
“Take that pad,” I shrieked upstarting, “and stick it where you do your farting.
I have trusted you for years but cannot bear one more.
Leave no script here as a token of the promises you’ve broken
And the lies that you have spoken. I’m your patient nevermore!
Holistic care I have not tried, your referral I implore!”
Quoth the doctor, “Want some more?”
Now the doctor, never moving, still is facing my reproving
Yet my vigor is removing much quicker than before.
From his face both cruel and vapid came his answer just as rapid
Burning through my cash like acid and soon I’ll be too poor
And to think it all began with a throat that was sore
And him saying, “Want some more?”
Image from iStock/smartstock.
Dr. David Kolowski is a chiropractor, speaker, and author in Loveland, Colorado. His booklet The Night Before Wellness gives the Big Idea of natural healthcare to readers young and old. Dr. Kolowski describes his mission as helping people ask better questions while seeing the bigger picture. You can find him at Inside Health.
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