At The VA Hospital
Dr. Lloyd Jacobs
It was panic which caused him
to leave the bakery
without his croissant when asked
to take a number and join a queue
reminiscent of that day he enlisted
and was assigned a serial number
already embossed of metal tags
and made to stand in formation
like the number on his purple heart
or the Juden Numeral inside
his grandfather’s left arm
and it came to pass in those days
that there went out a decree from
that all the world should be enrolled
So it was panic which caused him
to curse the admissions officer when
he was assigned his patient number
Dr. Lloyd Jacobs is President Emeritus of The University of Toledo, he has published 3 colletions of poetry, previously he was a professor of vascular surgery at the University of Michigan
