On the first day of lecture, my dear, sweet professor
Had fallen ill with a case of the flu.
She instructed the class, her voice rather rasp,
With a succession of coughs and “ah-choo!”
We learned how clonal selection could protect us from infection,
Though we were especially educated on irony.
For despite her deserving impunity, we don’t all develop immunity
Even my dear, sick professor of Immunology.
Poetry Thursdays is a weekly newsletter that highlights poems by medical students and physicians. This initiative is led by Slavena Salve Nissan at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. If you are interested in contributing, please contact Slavena.
Contributing Writer
The George Washington University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Eleanor is a rising first-year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. With a passion for global and public health, she has lived and worked abroad in Haiti and Uganda for a total of six months over the course of her undergraduate career at St. Bonaventure University.