A Question of Values

by Alan Balter
(Northbrook, ILlinois)

A Question of Values


When Bobby Falcone wasn’t yet one, he began to speak
Along with English, he became fluent in French, Italian, and Greek
Folks were stunned on his fourth birthday, those near enough to hear him
Because Bobby Falcone was expounding upon a geometric theorem

When other kids were riding their bikes and listening to CD’s
Bobby was learning Biology with astonishing ease
And instead of taking his roller skates for a spin around the block
He mastered pieces on the cello by Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach

Going to regular school would have been a waste of time
Just about as ridiculous as teaching Shakespeare to rhyme
So his parents employed some tutors to keep their son’s mind keen
And Bobby earned an MD from Yale the year he turned nineteen

Promoted to full professor at Johns Hopkins University
The youngest in history, because Bobby was only twenty-three
Surgical techniques he invented and introduced to his field
Soon were implemented to help little brains get healed

Bobby practiced brain surgery at hospitals far and wide
While his family stood back and reveled with considerable pride
And if ever some parents came to him who couldn’t afford to pay
It didn’t matter to Bobby; he helped them anyway

Bobby is thirty now and directs a lab at a medical center
Working on curing brain cancer so little kids have a life to enter
He ought to be a hero right there at the head of the pack
But hardly anyone cheers him, ‘cause he doesn’t play quarterback