Welshman. Jew. Physician. Poet.

Dannie Abse 1923-2014

A proud Welshman.  A  faithful Jew. A fine physician.  A wonderful poet.

I am the fortunate owner of a book of his poems -  "Welsh Retropective" - Poetry Wales Press Ltd,1997

His poem "Case History" moves my soul

'Most Welshmen are worthless,/an inferior breed, doctor.'/ He did not
know I was Welsh./
Then he praised the architects/of the German death-camps --/ did not know
I was a Jew./
He called liberals, 'White blacks',/
and continued to invent curses.
When I palpated his liver/ I felt the soft liver of Goering;/ when I
lifted my stethoscope/ I heard the heartbeats of Himmler;/when I read his
encephalograph/
I thought, 'Sieg heil, mein Fuhrer.'
In the clinic's dispensary/red berry of black bryony,/
cowbane, deadly nightshade, deathcap./ Yet I prescribed for him/ as if he
were my brother.
Later that night I must have slept/ on my arm:/ momentarily my right
hand lost its cunning

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Speaks volumes to "Christian" bakers who refuse to make a cake for a same sex wedding and "Christian" photographers who refuse their services to same sex couples

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 Do please look up Dannie Abse via Google, and also his fabulous brother Leo Abse, a courageous U.K. Member of Parliament

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