David X Novak
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Dr. Biden’s Diagnosis

8/28/2017

 
“[I]f there’s one thing I know about the American people, it’s this: When it has mattered most, they have never let this nation down.” (Joe Biden, The Atlantic)
The patient’s musculature is tone,
    But hardly near the tonest,
The cause of illness is well-known:
    America got dishonest.

The doctor said, “America
    Is better than a conman,”
Holding its former health in awe,
    But he is only one man.

The medical establishment
    Has reached its own consensus,
As a condition by consent,
    “What slanders recompense us.

“At any rate, paralysis
    Seems unlikely to lessen:
A great frame laid to waste like this— 
    To see it is a lesson.”

But Dr. Biden shook his head,
    “My heart of heart believes
Cures may be found, but—spirit dead— 
    Time will bring no reprieves.”

Mind you, it was no conman’s fault:
    The poison self-ingested
Itself produced—no cause occult
    Men’s own hearts got infested.

Honesty as a state of health
    “Preventive medicine”
Maintains—slanders don’t come by stealth,
    In broad view lies begin.


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