THE SURGEON

Almost ninety years of age, I want to tell you a story.
I would not be here, but for a doctor who deserves much glory.
It all happened long ago, when i was a boy of nine or ten-
when life was still good in Germany for our family then.
I woke up feeling ill and crying, covered with sweat:
my parents said : no school today, you are staying in bed.
We shall call good doctor Frei, he took care of us for years
he will make you better and soon stop your tears.
I remember him even now, a little hunchback with a kind face.
He did not need x rays, he at once found the bad place.
I told him my stomach hurt and i had so much thirst:
he told my parents: no time to loose-his appendix is ready to burst !
They called the "Sanitaeters"-, paramedics to you and me,
the " Martha Maria" hospital my destination was to be
Two men came and carried me down the steep stairwell-
they had wet Loden uniforms to this day I remember its smell !
And then , in the hospital, I remember a cone to my nose
to inhale ether, to put me out, I was soon in a doze.
Dr Frei, the good surgeon , he cut me in time and put me in stitches-
when I woke up later, I was told all was well, no glitches.
After a few days I felt fine, for the first meal I was given a choice,
I opted for calf sausage with a yellow skin, a favorite among us boys.
My favorite drink: raspberry juice-I was in seventh heaven that day.
And then an added present: theater tickets came my way.
How well I recall all this: the doctor was great and made no fuss,
he prescribed " no exertions" and I had to wear a truss.
When the time came: off with the truss and out with the stitches,
I was ready to go to school or perhaps, build bridges !
The point of all this: outside of a hernia-no other operation,
which, at my age, is a fact I brag about with much elation !