As the years unfolded for me, a recurring desire was trying to rhyme words. Limericks offered the opportunity along with the challenge of meter. Of the many that have been penned, I have summoned the courage to select those enclosed, sprinkled with satire and a dash of poetic license. One target of the satire is the system of medical care existing for patients and doctors alike. For both, insurance carriers and the federal government dictate the parameters within which care may be dispensed. No longer do doctors have the independence to "hang out a shingle" like dentists still do, and establish a solo practice. For the most part, group practice prevails, time constraints exist, care is less personal, and medicine has become a business, as it has to for anyone to survive. While my crystal ball is murky, the future does not look too enticing for medicine.