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I Must Speak for this Man – poems by doctors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

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Abstract

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Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2015 

I have forgotten the day, the month, the year.
I have forgotten the feel of salt wind
On the skin, the velvet of cats.
I have forgotten mouth organ music,
The tang of metal on teeth,
The smell of durian, the scent of the frangipan,
Rough wool at the throat.
I have forgotten the Kowloon waterfront,
The thin limbs in the small hours,
How many times I have been drunk,
The number of fights I have started and stopped.

I have forgotten my friend, companion and lover.
I have forgotten his name.

I have forgotten the condescension of my nurses,
The slops I had for breakfast,
The last time I shat myself.
I have forgotten my hopes for the future.

I suck breath. I soak my bed.
I am dead but do not die.
There is no more to me.

Edward John Anderson is a retired GP. The poem was selected by Femi Oyebode.

Published in The Hippocrates Prize Anthology, Hippocrates Press, 2012.

© Edward John Anderson. Reprinted with permission.

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