I live my life
Flitting from nectar to nectar
Attracted by oranges,
yellows and reds,
Tasting them all
And then moving on;
Experience, not expectation.
Discovery, not disappointment.
Meanwhile, across the planet,
There is a doctor.
Grew up poor black in the south
Born to care
Committed to matter.
He traveled to Ghana
and battles a worm
I've never seen
That's wriggled around
since they buried Pharaoh.
From millions he's down
To just ten thousand
One worm at a time
extracted from a foot
a breast or a stomach
Thin as dental-floss
and sometimes as long.
Hear the cries and the screams
But they understand,
And they are made better.
But for this man
that worm might continue
three thousand more years
And three thousand more.
What is it like
to be so single-minded,
So myopically dedicated,
That you, you
Make a difference
for the rest of existence?
I am an insect;
Doctor Hopkins is a hero.
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