One Damn Thing ...

Willingly, eagerly he lent himself and his
unrivalled medical expertise to a mission
few others would undertake, one that 
reflected his status in the world of science
as a microbiologist determined to study
and to discover, in a world of passive
agony how to relieve the deadly burden
of pathogenic infection hurtling lost souls
to death as viruses swept the world in 
deadly transmissions of historical dimension.
The loss of colleagues to those same morbid
threats, the pain of a witness to countless
and growing death counts, the strain of
challenging his medical brain to greater
effort, the wearying hours and endless grief
took its toll sparing his life while urging
relief in alcoholic pacification of misery.
High-functioning, he diagnosed himself as
an alcoholic still capable of high performance
directing with finesse and acuity the vital
work of a world-class laboratory tasked to
solve nature's most malign threats to human
existence. Alcohol in excess taking its
bodily toll, slowly lulling him toward certain
death, he lent himself to a new experiment
to wire his brain with electric impulses
lifting his appetite for alcohol, manageably
restoring his zest for life, grateful for the
opportunity to indulge in ordinary routines.
Still young, another lifetime before him 
acclaim resonating for past success and 
future viability as a lecturer still in demand
that future was abruptly cancelled. R.I.P.