Foreign workers with their doctor
He moonlights at a clinic in Little India
"You need to take care of your self you know!"
"Have you been taking the tablets I asked you to?"
"How many times must I tell you, you need to keep drinking lots of water"
They throng to him
The foreign workers, far from home in this hot and yet cold land,
Nursing their broken arms, wracking coughs, fevered heads
To see this young doctor fresh out of medical school
Who cares enough
To scold them.
‐--------------------
Draft 2
He moonlights at a clinic in Little India,
admonishes them in Tamil.
"You need to take care of yourself you know!"
"Have you been taking the tablets I told you to?"
"How many times must I tell you - you have to drink lots of water!"
They throng to him, the foreign workers,
far from home in this hot and yet cold land,
nursing their broken arms, wracking coughs, fevered heads
to see this young doctor,
fresh out of medical school
who cares enough
to scold them.
--------------------
Draft 3
He moonlights at a clinic in Little India,
admonishes them in Tamil.
"You need to take care of yourself you know!"
"Have you been taking the tablets I told you to?"
"How many times must I tell you - you have to drink lots of water!"
They throng to him, these foreign workers,
far from their homes in villupuram, nagapattunum, puthupetti,
One fell from the scaffolding -he was putting up French windows.
Another suffers from tuberculosis
Yet another sits, delirious with dengue
In this hot and yet cold land,
That they build up brick by brick
they yearn
for the touch of the callused hands of their wives,
The eager cries of "appa" and " mama" from their kids, nieces and nephews the music of a language that waters their soul.
So they come,
nursing their broken arms, wracking coughs, fevered heads,
to see this young doctor,
fresh out of medical school
who cares enough
to scold them.
