an Ode to Doctor Ali

I came to him in pain and with shame
(he reminded me of birth, famine, and rain)

he is or was a neurologist by trade
(with a frank, quick-witted way of seeing)

an inspection of my poet's half-carcass he made
(what a good, civilized way of being!)

the dragon's wicked jewels he knightly forsook,
for not a dollar from my Mom he took.

bless the folk and soil that bore him
for saving this youth from a treacherous limb!

as long as earth has such as him,
the green glow of her continents
shall never grow dim.