Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
has struck
the star of a local ballet troupe

and a retiree who’s been waiting ten years
to take up the sitar
and the daughter of a famous sci-fi writer
and a pharmacist at the nearby Walgreen’s
which sits at the cobbled corner of Happy and Healthy

There are too many others to mention
who have been likewise
affected
who (barely) live
from day to day
plywood nailed over the windows of their lives

There are unopened stacks of mail
piles of unread student papers
unfilled prescriptions
strings loose and out of tune
There are dishes piled to the rim of an
empty hot tub
If we don’t recover our energy soon
all is lost