While there is so much: A Palindromic poem

Natalie Bertrand
she/hers
2021

What medicine is,
you decide. 

It, 
medicine, feels worth 
less 
if suffering is 
the inevitable.  

I want to stop, 
cease caring. 

I can’t 
hope 
while there is so much  
pain 
and 
greed  
rules over 
compassion.  

We are human 
but broken. 

Caring for the strong 
even though we are weak 
seems too much. 

I don’t believe it
matters 
what I do. 

What I do
matters.

I don’t believe it
seems too much,
even though we are weak
caring for the strong,
but broken.

We are human.
Compassion
rules over
greed
and
pain.

While there is so much
hope
I can’t
cease caring.

I want to stop
the inevitable.

If suffering is
less,
medicine feels worth
it.

You decide
what medicine is. 

Palindrome: a phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards.
Medicine: a career that makes one feel like everyday holds a grueling hodgepodge of endless patient suffering and simultaneously makes one feel like everyday holds an incredible privilege of witnessing humanity in its most raw form.