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Poem of the week from 31 July 2007

by Bill Greenwell

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Statin Island

They told me that my heart was an old-timer,
And wasn’t beating blissfully within,
It was a mere device, it had no primer -
First you take the statins: then you’re not furred in.

I don’t like the hiccup and the spasm,
I don’t like grenades without a pin:
A healthy man’s breath can’t be ectoplasm –
First you take the statins: then you’re not furred in.

I’d really like to live forever, doctor,
I love my body and my drinking and my food –
But I want my heart to keep its ticker-tock-tuh,
I need them, I need them, I need them,
I need them for good -

And I thank you for the items you’ve prescribed me:
The Lipitor, and more, the pint of gin
And I hope you’ll do repeats (if you survive me) –
First you take the statins: then you’re not furred in.

 

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31 July 2007

It was proposed that all men over 50 in the UK should be prescribed statins, to lower cholesterol and to reduce deaths by heart disease.

with apologies to Leonard Cohen’s ‘First They Take Manhattan’