Recognition: a historical fantasy

HF Stein
3 February 2013
for H. B.

I think I finally recognize you,
my doctor friend --
you give me extra time
when I come to see you;
you fight with insurance companies
to pay for my treatment;
you are always at the legislature
to demand help for
patients' whose sickness
and madness fall through the cracks.
You do not give up.

I connected the missing dots
my doctor friend --
your folks fought in the Resistance;
was it Lodz, or was it Warsaw?
their home, sewers and tunnels
beneath formidable foes.
There was no question
who was more determined,
where resistance itself was victory.

They did not give up then;
nor do you now.
I am grateful for both.