Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CURE, by J. N. MARR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CURE, by                    
First Line: We'll let some blood,' the doctor said
Last Line: "the cure is ""pull their teeth."
Subject(s): Healing; Cures


"We'll let some blood," the doctor said,
With rest a day or so in bed,
The cure I'm sure will be complete
And soon he'll be upon his feet --
That up-to-date young med!
Oh, barbarous! oh, barbarous!
To treat poor ailing mankind thus
Two hundred years ago!

"We'll pull his teeth," the doctor said,
'Twill ease that throbbing in his head
And also quiet down his heart
And all those pains that make him start --
That up-to-date young med!
Oh, how enlightened and refined
To cure the ills of poor mankind
In Nineteen Twenty-Eight.

For heartache, rheumatics, T.B's,
Each known, unknown, or new disease:
For fifty-seven dread brands of woe
From finger-ache to palsied toe,
The cure is "Pull their teeth."

Can we by international law,
By force of logic, strength of jaw,
Since Doctor War should meet his fate
And letting blood is out of date
And ways of tooth and claw,
In some world clinic thus prescribe
For every country, nation, tribe
Whatever be its ill,

For all those dreadful growing pains
And fevered thirst for those domains
Not theirs by right, a mad desire
For places in the sun (or fire?)
The cure is "Pull their teeth."





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