The Chronically Well

queue at my exam room, hoping
for a visitation. They don’t feel well,
but that’s another matter. They don’t yet
know what it is to be ill. If they ask me,
which seldom happens, I recommend
reading Magic Mountain or Cancer Ward.

Then again, they do solicit remedies.
What should they do for their megrims,
lethargy, catarrh, lumbago, vertigo?
I can only tell them there is no cure
for ordinary good health, the discomforts
life offers gamely. I encourage them
to wait patiently.

Originally published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 2012