Thirty-Eight8

August 30, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is sacrifice, in honor of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, which falls on September 2 and commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son.

Today’s poem is a number poem about a hand surgeon who sacrifices the health of her hands in order to heal the hands of others.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-eight is skilled at healing hands,

Hard at work each day on wrists and fingers.

In her hands are hands, so what she feels

Requires the same tissues that she heals,

The tiny tangles over which she lingers.

Yet her own must leap to her commands.

Ever deaf to her own hands' appeals,

Intent on what each patient probe reveals,

Guiding blades, she puts her wrists through wringers,

Harsh in her devotion and demands,

The toll intense, as she well understands.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/43d.html. For more poems about various professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

August 28: Thirty-One5

August 29: Forty-Three4

August 30: Thirty-Eight8