soon can come absence

a slip with age

to step here and there

and expect that muscles and balance

will know just what to do,

know how to compensate for anything irregular on their own,

small tricks of the body that can slip with age,

to start a sentence

and expect that the mind will retrieve

name and word as needed,

the neurons within firing clear,

how wonderful such commonplace abilities are,

though it’s only their absence

that allows us to realize their presence,

on a recent trek in New Zealand

I lightly wrenched a leg

and I had to compensate 

by thinking out each step for days,

let me appreciate all that is present,

for way too soon can come absence.

by Henry H. Walker

May 8, ‘16