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Amusing verses that shine a light on mostly medical and grammatical topics

​When proofreading with an eye to perfection, there really is no substitute for good research. While one is always guided by the client's stated preferences regarding style, there is also a baseline understanding that serves as the foundation against which required differences are compared.

I will be offering some home-grown verses here that may be helpful for keeping certain basics in mind while adapting to the guidelines of a specific project, whether under the umbrella of CMOS, AP, APA, MLA, or other guidance.

They are not intended to be comprehensive regarding any particular issue. Rather, the purpose is to draw attention to identifiable aspects that are worth noting and make them memorable.

I think of these verses tongue in cheek as "Grammar Grist." Others that you find here will be more along the lines of "Medical Musings"; some might even qualify as a combination of the two.

It'll be fun. So, let's do it. Share the cheer everywhere.


© 2022 - 2026 Medillumina 
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The eye cannot see what the brain knoweth not,
And nor can it be when the brain knoweth naught.
To know what you'll be with a brain forever lost,
Extend the inner seeing to a being never lost.

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The sick complain of but one thing;
For healthy folk, it's everything.
This paradox discomforting
On “wellness”  leaves us wondering.

Perspective such by doctor held
Would host a certain wariness 
Toward the patient more replete
In voicing ailments to address.

Regardless ill or problem nil,
Beware the scope of medical eyes.
Technologies and will to find
Mean endless clues to scrutinize.

‘Tis better then to slightly curb
Elaborating tendencies 
That mention all and everything
And miss the forest for the trees.

Some docs have said, though tongue in cheek,
"There's never a  patient truly well;
They’re simply not “worked up” enough!"
It's not a tale we'd wish to tell.

So health is more than lack of ill,
And wellness means an attitude.
If best of life we wish to have,
The heart must favor healthitude.

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The old English proverb revisited…


Early to bed and early to rise 
Makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Better be said, “To bed on time,”
Rating “late” as careless crime.

One man's early is another man's late;
Writ in stone, circadian fate.
Plants no less with clocks are blessed,
“Touch-me-not” example best.*

“Sensitive plant” this truth receives,
Greeting night with folded leaves.
Humans, too, could wisdom show,
By their clocks internal flow.

Promptly to bed and promptly to rise;
That’s the way to harmonize.
Trust the clock that guides your eyes,
Inner process ever wise.


*Mimosa pudica




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Just a longer version of what came before… And the best part is being able to get right to it without an introduction! (For anyone feeling shortchanged, the previous preamble should serve.)


Alive and blessed with math-like skills,
“As well as” to “in addition” adds “to.”
In cases such, a comma it takes
If starting sentence or lesser unto.

Example quick to make this clear:
“As well as eating lemon pie,
He drank six beers while sitting there,
And all did laugh, as well as sigh.”

This second case of “in addition to,”
Its import slight, a mere aside,
Requires a comma since lesser unto,
A status the writer would thus confide.

Comparing directly, simply, in prose,
“As well as” a comma doth never require.
But extras offered, unneeded they be,
Must dress in commas as central attire…

Since parenthetical, clearly apart,
And nonessential to meaning like this:
“All gentlemen here, as well as there,
Should look to God for lasting bliss.”

“As well as,” thus, may sum like “and”
But unlike “and” can't rightly star
A compound subject, nouns combined:
Put “this as well as that” with “are.”

Instead a singular verb is vet--
One caution more to add to store.
For welcome summary one would wish,
Forget the clues and rules obscure:

As well as weighing sameness state,
As well as” joins up parts in pairs.
A crown of commas shall it rate
In nonessential-clause affairs.