Sick Days

I had different plans for what I would post today, but fate did not swing my way. Today is a sick day. In fact, as I am on medical leave from my job, I guess it would be more appropriate to call today a sicker day, since I am pretty much always somewhere on the spectrum of sick.

Today I've traded pajamas for sweatpants, the bed for the couch and sleeping with an uncomfortable relaxed looking pose that is filled with dread. It sucks here and I wish my body would just tell me what the heck it wanted, what it needed to feel, finally at ease. This hasn't been the greatest week, health-wise for me and I'm starting to feel a bit beat up about it, so it is time that I recall what strength can be drawn from the fight through this poem from Douglas Mallock:

Bold Tree by zachstern

The tree that never had to fight,

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out on the open plain,

And always got it’s share of rain,

Never became a forest king,

But lives and dies a scrawny thing.

The man who never had to toil,

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share,

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man,

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease,

The stronger the wind, the stronger trees

The farther sky, the greater the length

The more the storm, the more the strength,

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In tree and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

This is the common law of life.

                     Douglas Mallock

So, here's to the wonder of my good timber growth and to the days in my someday futur where I can hang a swing from them and just be!