Of willow bark and meadow-sweet

Of willow bark and meadow-sweet,
tjeret, salix, spirea; and synthetic
distillations from coal and tar—

Of long histories of pain;
agues, inflammations, 
intermittent fevers—

Of measures and titrations
weighed against the body's
natural chemistry—

Of disease, dis-ease: 
the many pathological 
forms of discomfort—

Of systems, diagnostics,
and dilations, courses for
deconstructing the blood—

This evening I walked
underneath a canopy 
of sleeping magnolias—

A papyrus unfolded:
part of me wanted desperately
to read the inscription—

Part of me won't forgive
if I knew there'd be
no remedy.