October 2021 Flash Lit 9: An Ounce of Prevention

An Ounce of Prevention

 

We do not operate heavy

machinery after swallowing.

We hold the handrails.

We get the shot and chicken-

flap our arms to reduce soreness.

We wash our hands,

and the vegetables,

and the countertops.

We fasten our seatbelts.

 

It is still going to be

a bumpy ride.

 

No precautions

can prevent

the heartbreaks—

our children crying

with disappointment,

the dream job

going to someone else,

the beloved who

no longer sees us.

 

We will, God willing,

grow old, find

stray chin hairs

and wrinkles.

The stairs will steepen,

the steps slow.

 

But.

 

We will not stop

the wind from combing

the grass,

the confused crow

of the rooster at noon,

the sweet and sudden

pressure of a hug

in the middle of the night.

There is no cure for life.