The old people said…
illness runs in families.
They knew who was likely
to have heart or lung disease,
who might yet be afflicted.
The old people said…
when someone had an operation
things often became worse,
as if the body being opened
the cure became the problem.
The old people said…
the time would come
when you wouldn’t
know the seasons
but by the leaves on the trees.
The old people said…
these things and more
and I didn’t believe them, because I was young
and I didn’t believe them, because they were old,
but now they are gone and I am older,
now I understand what the old people meant
when they said illness runs in families,
when they said the cure by times becomes the problem,
when they said the seasons would only be known
by leaves on the trees.
Now I know the wisdom
in their words when
the old people said…
