Touchy subject

narrative verse

 

 

Touchy Subject

 

As scientists now try to prove

 by surveys and experiment.

That being touched by one you love

 is itself benificient

 

Alternative therapies

abound but every one relies on touch

To put the patient at his ease.

What kind of touch won’t matter much

 

Reiki or reflexology

and all the methods of massage

Are challenging orthodoxy

 and are succeeding by and large.

 

The orthodox, impersonal

 and modern treatment of disease.

Is in itself inimical.
promoting feelings of unease.

 

Your patient need to feel you care

that he’s a person not a case

He need to know that he can share.

 The worries which he has to face.

 

He needs someone who understands

 as modern doctors seldom do

That just the laying on of hands

 can be a potent medicine too.

 

Despite the money they have spent

they will conclude eventually.

It all comes down to your intent

the reason you are touching me.

 

Deprived of touch sick people die

.They just give up and fade away.

Or they decide its time to try

 a different maybe better way.

 

You cannot argue with success.

although most doctors disagree.

Some few are willing to confess

that touching aids recovery.

 

That tender loving care does more

 or at the very least as much.

It’s not a case of either or

 but medicine and the loving touch.

 

We know though we cannot explain

close contact is imperative.

A loving touch can relieve pain

as well as any sedative.

 

 We all have power to harm or heal.

which we can utilise at will.

A power which is very real

 when it’s applied with loving skill.

26-Mar-08

Reviews

[Damien Dsoul]

Your words never stray from the point of subject that you're talking about. It's theme is even more scary to assume.

[Barbara Walker]

I like this poem so much! I have had to deal with doctors alot and they can be so cold, so in a hurry, so abrupt! Your poem has so much truth in it. Great read! Barbara

[Alessander]

As always, you're scheme is tight and too the point. I like your choice of vocab and syntax; it makes the poem very smoothe to the ear. The structure is basically a quatrain in iambic tetrameter (for the most part), and it never seems forced. No archaic words either, which is a BIG plus. The theme itself interest me. Basically, the Western analytic method vs. Love (very ineffecient). the fact that you sided with the latter makes this a more provacative piece while simultaneously making a claiim about the human spirit's defiance of mere logic. Bravo. This is the best piece I've read from you thus far.

[Tally]

Great poem. Showing different sides to the medical world. I know, I have tried both and both seem to work, depends how much you believe in one or the other. Well written.