Flick

The creator could have flicked his finger
and given us wisdom from the start,
instead of making us earn it the hard way,
struggling mistake by mistake, year after year,
immersed in pain and sorrow,
until in our old age we are finally, finally ready
to begin to live
in a way that will make our hearts sing,

just as
a nasty virus settles into our lungs
and finds them to be a cozy nest
for making babies.
Or cancer cells
start making trouble in the liver,
not thinking of themselves
as a dreaded disease
but as party animals.

And so off we go,
too soon, too soon,
no chance to use
so much of that wisdom
we have paid for
so dearly.