Issue 1 Draft 3

A Brief Concession
By Cameron Hayes
M2, Harvard Medical School
I regret to inform you
that your patient’s life,
which lingered out of sheer obedience
and whirred a sad harmony of tired machines,
has finally come to its unnatural end.
To be perfectly candid,
when I first felt her draw near
and saw the tangle of cords
keeping what was left of her alive,
all I could feel was pity.
The thought that I might be bested
by primitive procedures,
intrusive adornments,
and desperate concoctions of chemicals
is the definition of human arrogance.
But I have to admit:
once I fulfilled the inevitable
and reflected momentarily on
the stubbornness with which you fought,
I couldn’t help but be impressed.
Untitled
By Anand Chukka
M3, Harvard Medical School
Illustration by Sophie Yu
10 11