The Healer

Robert William Service

“Tuberculosis should not be,”
      The old professor said.
“If folks would hearken unto me
      ’Twould save a million dead.
Nay, no consumptive needs to die,
            —A cure have I.
             
“From blood of turtle I’ve distilled
             An elixir of worth;
Let every sufferer be thrilled
             And sing for joy of earth;
Yet every doctor turns his back
             And calls me quack.

“Alas! They do not want to cure,
             For sickness is their meat;
So persecution I endure,
             And die in dark defeat:
Ye lungers, listen to my call!
            —I’ll save you all.”

The old Professor now is dead,
      And turtles of the sea,
Knowing their blood they need not shed,
      Are festive in their glee:
While sanitoriums are crammed
             With legions dammed.

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