Cardiologist

His is an angular lean
and gaunt face
chiselled deeply with
the concern of one whose
academic training failed
to instill in him an 
emotional distance
from those his profession
serves. He is himself tall
and spare, body curved
in an ellipse of concentrated
attention to detail. He
must somehow infuse
into the obtuse mind
personal responsibility
for unthinking choices
imperiling their longevity
unwilling to submit
to the reality that 
patients willingly shirk
his admonitions secure
in their trust that his
expertise will save them
from their neglect to
self. His conflict is with
genes and age and faulted
lifestyle. Febrile in his
anxiety he ages prematurely
succumbing to nervous tics
suffocating under the
weight of his assumed
authority over death.