Nursing the Iraqis.

Nursing the Iraqis

   Here's how I learned their tongue: "Sadeeq! Sagheer

   ousissiya (small operation)"--he goggled at me--

   "La alam! La alam! (No pain)"--took the edge off the fear--we

   had no translators--infallible DoD.

   That came from a Berlitz book, a nightly task,

   after the wounds, the unrelenting burns had had their run ...

   We must have seemed to be mad. Doctors chanting on rounds,

   nurses warbling, corpsmen speaking tongues,

   never since Babel such an overflow of sounds.

   One phrase--"Salaam Alaykum"--stilled every alarm:

   it showed in the face, the terror yanked like a mask--no

   one who knew God's name could mean them harm.

Frederick Foote is a physician who practices in Bethesda, Maryland. His work has appeared in Commonweal, JAMA, and other publications. His e-mail is [e-mail].