Primum Non Nocere
I remember spring of 67 – four years into the war.
The bus ride down a pristine coast a thrill
Past San Onofre’s perfect surf
To the side of a Pendleton hill
MEND Medical Education for National Defense.
Earnest warriors faking war – a recruiting tool
Remember?… For you and me– a jewel–…
A pearl: Don’t just do something
Stand there …and think: but what’s the thought?
Primum non nocere—patient or not:
We can’t fight this war without you Doc!
Which is why I just said no.
Do what you will, but Hippocrates was right;
Primum non nocere and I won’t fight!
And now 40 years later nothing has changed
Four years in … no end insight.
This despite our country’s overwhelming might.
Squandering the best of our nations soil
On reckless killing for the control of oil.
An entire country destroyed with 650,000 dead
For what? For us to slumber safe in bed?
These tyrants know the power of fear
Which they help grow year after year.
And as our politicians egregiously lie
Innocent people continue to die.
H.P. Charman, M.D. 4-1-2007