ETERNITY...

We come in

Young, robust, fresh-faced

Eyes are sharp, minds alert

Eager to re-discover the art of healing

Our teachers

Diverse, gray hairs, well-read Demanding and exacting

'It is a tough race they tell us

Survival of the fittest' 

We begin

Physics, Maths, Chemistry

Zoology, Biology

But that's only to warm up the brain

For the heavy bombardment that follows

Anatomy ushers in the muscles and bones Nerves, Arteries, Organs, Systems

The cadavers, lifeless and at our mercy

An ever constant reminder of our mortality

We study, forget, re-study

Biochemistry and Metabolism

Physiology and function of every detail Of this universe called 'The Human Body' 

We progress

Pathology arrives with all possible disease processes

We learn and master every microorganism

Past, present, future

A world of drugs beckons

Pharmacology, a bitter-sweet pill 

We memorize every drug

Origins, how it works, and for which condition

As well as the side-effects 

We continue

At the patients' bedside

Like an astute detective

We learn to ask questions

Like Santa Claus

We learn to coax children 

Like an experienced midwife

We learn to deliver women in labour

We go for outreaches in communities

And help improve their health 

We persist

Through the eight-hour ward rounds

Through the six-hour surgeries

Standing with wobbling feet

Taking it all in a gulp

Still studying, forgetting, re-studying 

Countless clinical conferences

And innumerable tutorials

After six, eight, or ten grueling years

Depending on the skill of the barber

Or the sharpness of the blade

We are set free on oath 'To do no harm' 

We exit

Bald, bespectacled, worn-out

Fewer than we came in

Our younger ones have long returned

From NYSC and are now working

The business of saving lives have begun But we can't help but wonder

How did they succeed

In turning six years into eternity?