
- Vol 41, Issue 9
"Ficus Lyrata"
"...the heart-shaped ficus leaves dropping like sad notes from a Spanish song..."
One September morning,
the day I started medical school,
I placed a two-foot specimen
in my sunny south window.
Then Chicago froze into fall
and reams of lecture notes
swelled into huge white drifts,
the heart-shaped ficus leaves
dropping like sad notes from
a Spanish song, and by finals
nothing remained except
rough brown scars
on cracked dead stems.
Today, on her own
September morning,
my daughter starts medical school
while I scratch my bald head
and wonder why she chose
to follow my old ambition.
I wish I knew the way
to protect her from the avalanche
of facts and nights on call,
but all I can do is ramble around
the house, checking our plants
for aphids, feeding them
all the Miracle Grow I can find.
Dr Berlin has been writing a poem about his experience of being a doctor every month for the past 26 years in Psychiatric Times in a column called “Poetry of the Times.” He is instructor in psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts. His latest book is Tender Fences.
Articles in this issue
about 1 year ago
End-of-Life Care for Patients With Psychiatric Disordersabout 1 year ago
Guidelines for Supporting the Dying and Their Familiesabout 1 year ago
Suffering Revisited: Tenets of Intensive Caringabout 1 year ago
Death Is No Enemyabout 1 year ago
Agitation Assessment: The Role of Psychiatry in Acute Settingsabout 1 year ago
With MDMA on Hold, What’s Next for Psychedelics?about 1 year ago
New-Onset Racism or Psychosis?about 1 year ago
Meditation Is Not What You Thinkabout 1 year ago
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